Spanners in the Machine
by Cracked Plastic Crown
Summary: Roxas and Cloud are sent off to Radiant Garden where they must endure the summer with a hyperactive cousin, crazy locals and the trials and tribulations of small town living. Pairings include but not limited to; AkuRoku, SoRiku, Cleon and Zemyx
1. Prologue

**A.N.** Sooooo, I'm useless when it comes to keeping up to date with my fics. I'm sorry to all the people who read my other stories, especially the hardcore fans of Nobody's Loveletter. I hope that one day I will find my inspiration to take it up again. Until then, enjoy Spanners (:

**Disclaimer.** I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. I probably don't even own this story and my mind has stolen it from someone else through a psychic link.

**Story.** Roxas and Cloud are being sent to Radiant Garden where they must endure the summer. There's a carwash, a mechanic and whatever else I can randomly devise. Don't expect me to regularly update because I'm a loser.

**Warnings.** Boyxboy/yaoi/shounen ai. All the junk like that. Pairings include but not limited to AkuRoku, SoRiku, Cleon, Zemyx and whatever else I can concoct.

**Spanners in the Machine**

**Prologue**

Summer was fast approaching and the buzz about the room was what people were going to be doing during their break from school. There were plans to spend it doing anything but homework. Someone had the idea to just spent the weeks sleeping – either in bed or out in the sun. There were trips to the beach, trips to the shops, and trips to the relatives. As for Roxas, well, he was going to spend it in some dusty town in the middle of nowhere. A place where he knew no one and no one knew him.

No, wait, that was wrong. There _were_ people that knew him there.

But family doesn't count.

His older brother was being sentenced along with him to hard labour at their uncle's farm out in the middle of forgotten nowhere.

At the desk behind him, Hayner leaned forwards on his folded arms and grinned at his friend as he attempted to gain Roxas' attention without alerting the teacher. "Yo, Rox, what're you doing during the summer holiday?" he asked. Roxas had kept any and all information about the Hell he was being doomed to from his friends. As far as they were all concerned it was going to be fun, laughter, ice cream and adventures. "You haven't told any of us yet what your plans are."

"I haven't decided on anything yet," he lied.

"Well, you better hurry up and _decide_, Roxas, otherwise we're going to make plans without you." He gave Roxas' upper arm a friendly punch as he sat back in his seat and returned to his work.

It was better if they made plans that didn't involve him anyway, instead of making plans to accommodate him, only to find out he was being condemned to the world's most boring summer vacation. How Sora could forever remain cheerful about such a boring town was beyond Roxas. Granted his cousin had _grown up there_, but still – as far as Roxas was concerned it was a pretty dull place to live. Cloud hadn't even given his judgement on the town yet. Roxas could see through him though; Cloud was loathing the idea just as much as he was.

As class was over, Roxas trudged out of the room with a look of doom and gloom settling over him. His summer was officially ruined before it had even begun. Why did his parents have to go off on a holiday without their two darling sons? Cloud was old enough to keep an eye on his younger brother while they went away for a few weeks. They didn't need to ship their boys off halfway across the country to suffer in the heat, the dust and the endless enthusiasm that was Sora.

Olette noticed his foul mood at lunch and shifted over on the bench to sit closer to him, leaning down to talk without Pence or Hayner listening in. Hayner was talking loudly and animatedly about what he was planning to do during the break from school while Pence sat listening to him, eagerly drinking up everything the blond said. "You don't seem very excited about the summer break," she said, hitting the nail on the head directly. Her insight knew no bounds.

Roxas sighed, frowned, pouted and frowned again. "I'm not spending summer in Twilight Town," he told her glumly. "My mom and dad are going away for a 'second honeymoon', and because they think we're not old enough to look after ourselves for a few weeks, Cloud and I are going to stay with family."

Olette 'hmm'ed her acknowledgement of what he was saying, silently urging him to continue.

"In Radiant Garden," he finished.

She gasped, hands flying to her mouth. "But that's miles away!" she announced. "All summer?"

He nodded. "All summer," he echoed. "My dad grew up there, and he seems to think it will 'do us good' to spend some time out there beyond the few odd days we've been there when visiting family." It wasn't as if Roxas had never been to Radiant Garden, but he was hardly a frequent resident. It had to be at least five years since he'd set foot in the town. Cloud had gone up on his own the other year; he'd found it easier to make friends up there than his little brother and still kept in touch with them. Roxas had never found the strength to leave the farm and his mother's side in such a strange and new place. Now he was going without his mother's hand to hold, and it was highly unlikely he would be allowed to stay in his room for the entire holiday.

The girl frowned, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. Judging by the expression on her face, she was thinking hard about something. Finally, her face brightened and she gave Roxas a hug. "We'll write to you every day, and you better write back." Obviously she wasn't as distraught as Roxas was – probably because she wasn't going to some foreign place. She accepted Roxas' fate much better than Roxas had. "You'll be back before you know it."

"Where are you going?" Hayner piped up, catching the tail end of the conversation between Roxas and Olette. "Can you get me a soda while you're there?"

Olette pursed her lips, frowning at her friend. "Don't be so insincere, Hayner. Roxas is going away for the summer."

On most occasions, Roxas would have hated the fact that Olette had given away his secret, but for once he was glad he didn't have to break the news to his best friend. Looking across the table, Roxas attempted to gage Hayner's expression as the realisation of what was happening to Roxas sunk into his brain. There was the crease of brows in confusion before those eyebrows raised high on his head, eyes opening wide. Finally, his brows lowered back into the normal position on his face and he shook his head in dismay, waving a hand dismissively through the air. "Fine, go on, leave us. We can have loads of fun without you."

Roxas' mouth fell agape, and he slammed his hands palm flat on the table. "Don't be like that!" he announced. "It's not like I'm going there because I want to!" With a huff, Roxas grabbed his bag, swinging the strap over his shoulder as he stormed off. It was going to be the most boring time in his entire life – Roxas knew it – and his best friend simply didn't care. Glaring at anyone in his way, the people in the corridor cleared an instant path for him all the way to his next lesson; and each lesson afterwards until the final bell rang and the masses of students fled the school building in a writhing mass of joy and exhilaration. Roxas, however, left in a begrudgingly slower manner. The longer it took him to get home the longer it would be until he was shipped off to the arse end of Hell.

---

A.N. Short, I know, but I didn't want to spend forever in Twilight Town since this story takes place in Radiant Garden. The next chapter should be better than this twaddle (:


	2. Sora

**A.N.** Chapter One. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer.** I don't own the rights to Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, yaddayaddayadda...

**Story.** Roxas and Cloud are shipped off to Radiant Garden. As they attempt to survive the summer all manner of things will occur. I really haven't come up with much of a plot to be perfectly honest.

**Warnings.** Boyxboy/yaoi/shounen ai. All the junk like that. Pairings include but not limited to AkuRoku, SoRiku, Cleon, Zemyx and whatever else I can concoct.

**Spanners in the Machine**

**Sora**

According to the weather man on the morning breakfast show the weather that day was going to announce the start of a great summer. The humid heat had yet to descend, and there was still a cool breeze coming in from the west to keep the sky blue and cloudless. Temperatures were set to rise around mid-afternoon, but by the evening things would settle off into a comfortably warm evening. All he really should have said was that it wasn't going to rain because that was all that really mattered to Sora. If it rained it meant he'd be stuck indoors where he'd sit by the window and stare out gloomily at the wet and dreary weather. Since the guy in the pressed mauve suit had announced that it was going to be sunny Sora could hardly sit still.

It was the perfect weather to welcome his cousins, too. They were city boys that knew only of smog and car fumes. They probably had espresso pumping through their veins and couldn't function for more than two hours without a cigarette. Pasty pale skin hidden under old sweaters and neither of them would know how to wrangle a lamb from its mother without getting kicked in the face. It didn't matter to Sora that the two boys had visited before; neither of them had spent time working with his father in the fields. Cloud had come up alone a few times over the years, but he had spent barely any time around the house, choosing instead to go gallivanting off with friends he'd made with some of the people in the town. Sora had seen him a few times, lurking on a street corner with that thug of a woman named Tifa. Hopefully Roxas wouldn't be like his older brother and would actually want to hang out with him. The last time Sora had seen Roxas he was nothing more than a scrawny little thing who held onto his mother's hand like it was the only connection between him and the world. Well, with no mommy to hold hands with, Roxas was going to have to deal with Sora to keep him connected with the world, and Sora had many, many plans in mind for what they could do over the summer break.

The wood of the porch swing seat creaked under his weight as Sora used his toes to sway back and forth while he eagerly awaited the arrival of his cousins. Eyes searched the horizon for any sign of his father's car bringing the pair to him. His father had driven out earlier to pick the two up from the airport. Surely they should be here by now – unless his dad had chosen to take the scenic route. Roxas had been so young since his last visit that perhaps his father had decided to show him what things had changed and to remind him of where things were. Radiant Garden was a bustling little town, but certainly no sprawling city like Twilight Town. Compared to Hollow Bastion neither Radiant Garden nor Twilight Town were very big, but there was a higher population of people living in the close, cramped quarters of Twilight Town. In Radiant Garden people were spread out much more, separated from one another with farmland or woodlands. There was a main central area with shops and small businesses, but the people preferred to live much more secluded. Maybe that was way they were friendlier here than in other places. Since they people didn't live so cramped together they could actually enjoy the presences of other people. Whatever the reasons, Sora certainly liked it here more than anywhere else in the world.

Lost in his own thoughts, Sora didn't hear the front door open and then close behind a small blonde girl. She tucked a few stray locks of hair behind her ear as she made her way over to where Sora sat. Looking up to acknowledge her, he shifted over to make room on the seat. "When are they gonna get here?" he asked her, returning to watching the horizon.

Naminé sighed softly, smiling a small and gentle smile. "They'll get here when they get here, Sora." That cool breeze the weatherman spoke of swept over them both, playing and dancing through her hair, forcing her to tuck it behind her ear again. "Roxas is a lot older than he was last time he came to visit. He may not want to hang out with you," she said. "He was scared to leave his mother; maybe he'll be nervous about leaving the farm." She shifted her weight on the cushions, causing the wood to creak and groan, the chain links scrapping over one another. "And Cloud will probably just go and hang out with those friends of his. Roxas might go with him, just to be with someone familiar. You never know what's going to happen."

Sora just grinned. "I've got so much stuff planned that he'll forget that he was ever scared of this place," he announced gleefully. "It's going to be the best summer vacation Roxas has ever had!" he called out, spreading his arms high and wide, swinging his legs childishly in front of him, causing the chair to swing with more force. Naminé's hand shot out to clutch the armrest to keep from falling off, shocked by the sudden swinging motion.

"Sora..."

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry!" Placing his feet carefully on the floor, Sora slowed the swaying of the seat and looked sheepishly at Naminé. "Sorry," he said again. He shuffled over on the seat, wrapping his arms around her thin frame. After a few moments of silence stretching between them, Sora slipped back and looked directly at her face. She had the family eyes; big and blue. Sometimes Sora thought it was the only thing that related him to the rest of his family. He took after his mother while Naminé (and Roxas and Cloud) took after his father's side of the family. Blonde, blue eyes and a paler skin tone that could burn in too much sunlight. Growing up in Radiant Garden meant Naminé's skin wasn't as prone to burning as it was while she was growing up, but Sora had to wonder just how many layers of suntan lotion were going to be needed to keep Roxas from turning into a burnt tomato the moment he spent any time under the hot summer sun.

She smiled sweetly at him, shaking her head apologetically. "Don't worry about it, Sora. You just startled me." She tucked some of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Swinging makes my stomach feel funny."

Sora grinned back at her. "I love that feeling – its like butterflies dancing in your tummy. Like that feeling you get when you love someone."

"What a strange metaphor," she said, sliding off the seat and standing up. She looked down the driveway. Their father's car was pulling onto the dirt track that was the driveway. Stones crunched under the wheels of the car as it rumbled along, finally pulling up outside the house. "Looks like your wait is over."

Hopping to his feet, Sora moved to stand next to her on the front porch, grin wide on his face as he eagerly awaited the doors to open and reveal the family members he rarely ever saw. First came Cloud, slipping out slowly and taking each step with caution and care as he exited from the front passenger seat. Letting out a heavy breath of air, the older male leaned back against the car, head tilting back. His expression looked relieved, and the whisper of a breeze brushed through the spikes of blond hair on his head. Rounding the car from the other side was Roxas. His blond hair was also in spikes, although styled more in a swirl of spikes rather than protruding in all directions. He was taller than Sora remembered, but no taller than himself. He wore khaki pants and a black t-shirt. The sleeves of a black and white striped hoodie were tied around his waist.

"Welcome!" Sora announced, waving at them both.

Cloud pulled his eyes down from the heavens to look at him with little expression on his face. He glanced over to his brother who had now come to his side. "You remember Sora and Naminé, don't you Roxas?"

Roxas frowned and looked over at his cousin. Sora shifted his weight from one foot to the other, hopping on the spot. Naminé smiled sweetly at her cousins, giving them a small wave. Roxas didn't say anything. "Do you want a drink?" Naminé asked, looking rather uneasy under Roxas' silent stare. "I've made some lemonade."

"I want some lemonade!" Sora announced.

Cloud pushed away from the car and climbed the steps of the porch. Sora looked up at him. "Lemonade would be nice, thank you," he said politely, smiling down at Naminé. "I don't like travelling in cars,"

"Oh, I know how you feel," she replied, and giggled when Cloud looped their arms together and lead her into the house leaving Sora to help his father and Roxas to unload the car.

"You sure brought a lot of stuff," Sora remarked as he carried one of the cases inside, trying his best to make conversation with his cousin. "Did you enjoy the flight?"

Roxas remained silent. His brows creased and rose on his face with each question Sora asked. Whatever was going on inside his head, Roxas obviously didn't want to share his thoughts with Sora; which annoyed Sora to no end. He could hear Cloud chatting away with Naminé in the kitchen, but the younger sibling was harder to crack than a hard boiled rock. Sometimes it looked like he didn't even _want_ to answer him. This summer was going to become exceptionally boring if Roxas remained mute. He would have to figure out a way to get him to open up.

"We can go see the horses later if you want, Roxas," Sora suggested, leaning against the landing banister while Roxas sorted through the bags of luggage for the ones that were his and separating them from his brothers. "Or go into town. What do you normally do during the holidays? We can probably do it here too." He folded his arms behind his head and beamed at Roxas.

Roxas didn't seem to like that. He glared at Sora and tossed the bag he was holding onto the bed set up in the spare room. "I can't do what I normally do at home because I'm here!" he hissed through his teeth. "Stop trying to make me want to be here, Sora, because I don't want to."

Shocked by Roxas sudden outburst, Sora stared at him open mouthed. His cousin seemed so calm – to see him turn red faced and angry was quite the shock. Looking at the floor sheepishly, Sora felt bad. His cousin didn't want to be here, and he couldn't understand why. Sora loved living in Radiant Garden. To meet someone who didn't instantly love the place was a rarity. Bringing his gaze back up to look level with Roxas, Sora tilted his head to the side and smiled as brightly as ever. "I'll be downstairs." Pointing in the direction he was going to leave, Sora flashed him another smile and was off, thundering down the stairs.

With arms still folded behind his head, Sora strolled into the kitchen. Naminé looked up at him when he entered, worry plain on her face. "I heard shouting..."

"What did you say to Roxas, Sora?" Cloud asked, looking over his shoulder from where he sat at the kitchen table.

Sora stuck out his bottom lip in thought. "I didn't say anything bad. I just thought we could hang out and he instantly snapped at me."

Cloud chuckled. "Roxas didn't really want to stay here, so its only natural he'll be feeling a little resentful," he explained. "Just let him settle in first before you go dragging him off around the town."

Sora looked up at the ceiling where the spare room was, and where Roxas was hiding out. "How long will that take?"

Cloud stood up and walked over, clasping a hand on Sora's shoulder. "As long as it takes," he said before slipping out. Sora glanced back to watch him go – obviously heading off to talk with his younger brother.

"Cloud is such a cool older brother," Sora remarked as he slumped down in his vacated seat, pouring himself a large glass of the lemonade that Naminé had set out.

"Unlike some," Naminé replied with a small smile.

Guzzling his drink, Sora didn't hear what she said. "What did you say?"

Her sweet little smile brightened. "Nothing Sora, nothing at all."

Sora snorted and took another gulp of the refreshing drink. "So how long is Cloud hanging around before he runs off to hang with Tifa and her friends?"

"He said he's going to stay close to Roxas for a while first," she replied, relaying the information she had gathered while Sora had been helping Roxas unpack. "Offer support for him for a while, but he said he might go out tomorrow. He lied and told Tifa he wasn't arriving until tomorrow. If she knew he was here she'd come straight over and drag him out."

Nodding as he listened, Sora leaned forwards on his elbow, propping his chin in his hand. "We should do something tonight to make Roxas feel more comfortable here."

"There's nothing we can really do, Sora."

He pouted at her answer, not liking her defeatist attitude. It was strange that Roxas wasn't jumping with joy at the chance to spend all summer here, but Sora was adamant that by the end of the summer break he's have convinced Roxas to spend every year here. "Lets have a bonfire!"

"We're not having a bonfire."

"But Naminé...The weather is going to be really nice tonight – the best weather for a bonfire."

"We are not having a bonfire," she repeated. Rising gracefully from her seat, Naminé cleared away the glasses and returned the jug of lemonade to the refrigerator. "Mom and Dad won't let you after what happened last time."

'Last time' had been only last year when Sora had invited his friends over and they'd started a camp fire in the field behind the house. The little fire had turned into a blazing inferno and their mother had called the fire department to put out the flames before they reached the house. Those involved were lucky not to suffer any terrible burns, although Sora's friend Riku had lost a large chunk of his hair in the blaze. The damage had been so extensive that Riku cropped the silver strands quite short. Luckily for him his hair grew quite quickly. In a year it had grown from chin-length to shoulder-length.

"But it'll just be us," Sora whined. "The fire won't get out of hand this time."

Naminé looked at her brother sternly. "No means no, Sora. You know Mom won't let you anyway."

Sighing in defeat, Sora rocked back and forth on his chair, weight only on the back two legs. "You're no fun," he retorted.

She gave a wry smile. "Sucks to be you then, doesn't it?" As she walked past him, she pushed on his back, jolting the seat down onto all four legs. Sora's jaw snapped shut and he cried out as he bit his tongue. She was only laughing at him for a few seconds before Sora flew out of his seat and chased after his sister.

As he was racing after her, she ducked behind the taller form of Cloud that had returned from upstairs. Sora collided with an outstretched hand. Falling back with a cry, Sora rubbed his head where he'd run smack into Cloud's palm. "Cloud can't protect you forever, Naminé," he threatened, glaring up from under his bangs at his sister who was grinning wickedly from behind Cloud. Ignoring her as she waggled her fingers at him, he looked up at Cloud who was frowning down at him. He shared a similar frown to his younger brother. "How's Roxas?"

"He's calmed down a bit," Cloud replied. "Don't be so quick to try and get him out of his room just yet though. You could always just try hanging out with him in his room."

"But that's boooooring," Sora whined. "The weather is too nice to be cooped up inside."

"You're not going to change his opinion by dragging him to somewhere he doesn't want to go, Sora. Roxas is stubborn. He'll come around eventually though. Until then you'll just have to be patient."

Sora didn't want to wait until Roxas was ready. He wanted to go out now. They could go anywhere in all of Radiant Garden; have any adventure possible. But no, Roxas wanted to stay cooped up in a stuff old bedroom. No wonder Roxas had held onto his mother's hand whenever he visited. He wasn't scared, he was after an excuse to not come and play. Well, not this time. Roxas was a teenager now. Teenagers in Radiant Garden did not sulk in bedrooms. Teenagers in Radiant Garden went out and enjoyed themselves. If Roxas didn't have that kind of mindset, then Sora was going to just drill it into him.

Leaving Naminé in the protection of Cloud, Sora stalked past the pair and bounded up the stairs. As he reached the closed door of the room that Roxas was sharing with his older brother, Sora could hear the faint sound of music coming from the other side. Pausing at the door, Sora pressed his ear to the wood to listen in. The music inside the room was a keyboard. There was no definitive song – more like someone testing out different melodies to see what fitted together. Pauses occurred every now and again.

Instead of knocking, Sora pushed the door open and peered inside. Roxas was lying on his stomach on the floor, sheet music scattered all around him. A keyboard was on the floor in front of him, and he was playing notes with one hand while noting things down on a music sheet with the other. Hanging on the door, Sora listened to his cousin develop a song. Sora had no musical talent whatsoever which meant whenever he came across someone who could play an instrument he was instantly fascinated. From what he could gather, Roxas was pretty good. "I didn't know you could play the keyboard," Sora announced when there was a lull in the music and Roxas wasn't noting anything down.

Jolted by the sudden intrusion into his privacy, Roxas rolled over onto his back and glared at Sora, obviously not pleased by the fact his privacy had been invaded. "How long have you been there?"

"Not long," Sora replied. "Can I come in?"

"You're not going to try and get me to go and hang out with you are you?"

Sora shook his head, now swinging on the door. "What are you doing?"

Roxas scratched his temple with the base of his pencil. His brows creased together in thought. "Just messing about," he replied before rolling back over onto his stomach. "You can come in, but shut the door behind you."

Grinning at the acceptance to be allowed inside Roxas' personal bubble, Sora slipped inside the room, taking careful steps not to stand on anything important and squatted down beside Roxas. "You're really good."

Roxas pushed a few keys with the pencil, clinking out a couple of notes. "I don't really like keyboards – I like pianos better, but you don't have a piano so I brought this with me instead."

Looking around the room, Sora noted just how quickly Roxas had settled in to the spare room. Some of his clothes weren't put away yet and were still strewn about on the bed. He'd taken over most of the floor with paper and his body sprawled out. "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was trying to get you to do something you didn't want to. I just thought you'd rather be outside than cooped up in here."

"Well you thought wrong then, did you?" Roxas snapped in reply. "I don't see what the fuss is about this place. There's nothing to do here."

Sora sat down properly on the floor and leaned back on his hands. "There are loads of things to do when you know where to look."

"Well, I don't want to look," he responded.

"I can show you instead."

"I thought you weren't trying to get me to hang around with you?"

Roxas had him there. Chuckling, Sora shook his head. "Not right now – but you have to give this place a chance. You can't spend your entire summer in here."

"I'm not going to spend my entire summer in here. I have to go to the bathroom sometime."

Sora frowned. "I meant outside."

"Is the bathroom outside?"

Sora gasped. "We're not _that_ old fashioned!"

There was a chuckle from Roxas. He was still focused on his work, noting things down and stroking the keys every now and again. "You could have had me fooled." With a sigh, he placed his pencil down and looked at Sora. Despite such differences between them, Sora could note a thousand and one similarities they both shared. When they were much younger people used to note how alike they looked, and how it was almost like they could have been twins. Their faces were similarly shaped, and their eyes were exactly the same, although Roxas' blue pair were a much more sombre when one looked deeper inside and noted more than just the colour. Then there was the frown. Sora rarely ever frowned, while Roxas seemed permanently thinking about the trails and tribulations of surviving in the world and weighing up his options on what would be the easiest way to suffer through it all. The difference in how 'deep' each male was could be described in such a way that Roxas was a vast ocean compared to Sora's puddle of a lake.

Sora's lake was prettier though. The ocean had nothing but endless rolling waves. Lakes had things like trees and grass and in the distance there could be mountain rangers with snow capped peaks, beyond which lay an endless world of adventure just waiting to be explored.

"You're thinking about something stupid, aren't you?" Roxas asked, snapping Sora out of his thoughts.

"We should go to the lake!"

Once more Roxas frowned. "That involves going _outside_, Sora. We've already established that I don't want to go exploring your little town." He turned back to his keyboard and his notes. "I want to stay here," he mumbled

Chewing on his bottom lip in thought, Sora stretched his legs out in front of him and began tapping the toes of his sneakers together. "I'm sure I can think of something that could persuade you to go outside."

"I bet you can't."

That spurred him on. Grinning like a madman, Sora decided he would take up that challenge. "I bet I can. If I can't, I leave you alone. Deal?" He shuffled forwards and held out his hand for his cousin.

Roxas looked between Sora's smiling face and the hand offered out to him for several moments before giving in with a heavy sigh, shoulders sagging in defeat. "Deal."

"Wonderful!" Sora announced cheerfully, punching the air with his fist. Scrambling to his feet, he looked down at his cousin who stared up at him with confusion written plainly on his face. Giving him a bigger, toothier grin, Sora folded his arms behind his head and strolled out of the bedroom in a manner that looked like he owned the place. He knew exactly how to get his cousin to relinquish his need to be hidden away in the bedroom, and then Roxas would be his for the rest of the summer. At the thought of having his own personal slave Sora chuckled manically, imagining the sound to be similar to that of a mad scientist who was breaking all the rules to create a humanoid monster out of bits of dug up corpses and k'nex.

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**A.N. **So that's the official first chapter (: Hope you enjoyed it, and reviews and such are greatly appreciated.


	3. Cloud

**A.N.** Chapter two, time for a different perspective. This is the way in which I'm writing Spanners, which is why an AkuRoku began with Sora (: Hopefully things won't be too confusing.

**Disclaimer.** I don't own the rights to Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, yaddayaddayadda...

**Story.** Roxas and Cloud are shipped off to Radiant Garden. As they attempt to survive the summer all manner of things will occur that will result in them changing their views on life forever; and the views and opinions of others.

**Warnings.** Boyxboy/yaoi/shounen ai. All the junk like that. Pairings include but not limited to AkuRoku, SoRiku, Cleon, Zemyx and whatever else I can concoct.

**Spanners in the Machine**

**Cloud**

When Roxas wanted to he could be one hell of a stubborn bastard. Poor Sora had no idea just what he was getting himself into when he took it upon himself to make certain that Roxas enjoyed his summer. He had already hit a brick wall and the two of them had barely been in Radiant Garden for an hour. Cloud had attempted to talk him out of giving Sora a hard time, but being the type of person that he was, doing such a thing just wasn't possible for Roxas. Well, if Roxas wanted to hide in his room like a menstruating teenage girl then that was exactly what Cloud was going to leave him doing. It was like he thought he was the only teenager in the entire world who had problems.

"Sora is bound to wear himself out eventually," he remarked as he watched Sora pace about on the front porch. "He'll never convince Roxas that Radiant Garden is much more than some backwater town filled with yokels and stray dogs."

"That's my home town you're talking about, Cloud," Naminé responded, following Cloud's gaze to the window as Sora passed it for the umpteenth time. "And he won't. Riku tried ignoring him when his hair was the unfortunate victim in Sora's bonfire fiasco, but Sora never gave up trying to get him to forgive him."

"Roxas isn't Riku."

Naminé hummed in thought. "No, you're right there – but Sora won't give in. He'll drag Roxas outside while he's sleeping if he has to, and Sora is a lot stronger than he looks."

"Are you calling my brother weak?" Cloud looked across the table at his female cousin who grinned sweetly back up at him. "He could beat Sora in a fight; I know because I've been training him."

She chuckled. "Big brother wrestling does not count as an appropriate form of 'training', Cloud. But are you suggesting we pit them against each other in order to establish which of them is stronger?"

Leaning back in the chair, Cloud mulled the image over. Roxas vs Sora in a Fight Club style match; the two boys beating each other up, fists, sweat and blood flying everywhere; the shouts and calls of the crowd as they encouraged their favourite – and Naminé lording over the whole fight like some Queen of Hearts, waiting to lop off the head of the looser. He had to admit that it was quite the amusing image, especially since neither Roxas nor Sora seemed the type to engage in bare knuckle fighting unless there was a video game involved, and even then one of them would choose the female character with the inappropriately large chest and very little in the way of clothing. Maybe the character developers knew about Tifa...?

Realising that he was settling into his own thoughts again and not sharing them with people in the real world, Cloud snapped his eyes back to Naminé where she sat on the couch next to him examining her nails while politely waiting for Cloud to respond. She was Sora's sister, but she had the patience of a saint. Why wasn't she his little sister instead? She fitted in much better with Cloud's side of the family. She had more of the Strife genes than Sora that was certain. "As much as I would like to see Sora and Roxas duke it out, I highly doubt Roxas would be convinced into taking part."

"So you're quite alright with Roxas spending his entire summer in the spare room?" she asked.

Cloud shrugged nonchalantly. "At home he'd be out; his friends would drag him out of bed by his ankles if he was still sleeping when they called. He wouldn't come home until the last second, and sometimes I'd be sent out to track him down because he was running half an hour late," Cloud explained in response, smoothing a hand over his hair as he leaned back into the cushions, gaze still focused on that window where Sora strode past every now and again.

The sky outside was growing golden; reds and oranges clashing amongst the scattering of clouds that had worked their way into the air. Evening was falling upon them, and Sora still hadn't managed to convince Roxas to leave the bedroom. He was now pacing with his phone held to his ear. His walking route was no longer a trained thought process – he wandered around and around, sometimes walking over the same spot several times. He sat down on the swing only to stand straight back up again. At first Cloud had found him fascinating to watch, but he grew tired of watching him through the window and headed into the den where Naminé sat painting by the window that looked out on the rear of the house. Endless amounts of fields, ending with trees grouped together just on the horizon. Cloud fondly remembered his younger years when his parents had brought him up here; before Naminé could even walk, and running like a madman towards those trees. There had been so much adventure and mystery to be found in that quaint little wood.

"Has Sora even been upstairs since he made that bet with Roxas?" Cloud asked, stuffing his hands into his pocket as he pushed open the screen door and leaned against the door frame, eyes still focused on his younger years and memories.

Naminé looked up from her painting and shook her head, even thought Cloud couldn't see her from where he stood. "He came in and picked up his phone and announced he was calling Riku."

"Does he always talk this long? They see each other nearly every day – what have they got to talk about?"

Naminé giggled. "If all the conversations in the world had been used up, Sora would _still _find something to talk about with Riku," she explained as she turned back to her painting, making long, sweeping motions with her paint covered brush. "Sometimes I think he just repeats things he's already said though. Maybe Riku just likes to hear Sora's voice?"

"Hmmm...Maybe..."

"And today he had you and Roxas to talk to him about," she added. "That's a whole new hour long conversation right there."

He looked over his shoulder at his cousin. "An hour?"

"Give or take; I haven't exactly sat and timed each topic he talks about. I do have much more interesting things to do you know."

Pulling the door closed again, Cloud walked over to where she sat painting. It was a landscape; but not the one outside the window. It was more like a dark and gloomy wood with one big tree dominating the forefront of the picture. Reaching over, Cloud dipped his finger into the red paint. Naminé watched him curiously as he smirked at her as he stood back up. Looking between her face and finger for a few moments, his grin spread even more before he reached over and swiped the red paint straight across her forehead. As she yelped in distress, Cloud fled the scene of the crime, wiping his hand on his jeans. Hopefully Naminé was using water-based paints; otherwise cloud was going to have a bright red stain on his dark jeans.

Naminé's calls of how she had to put up with one older brother figure and how she didn't want another one trailed behind him as Cloud headed for the stairs. He glanced to see if Sora was still alive out on the front porch before trotting up the stairs, ears picking up the sound of Roxas and his keyboard. Since he was sharing the room with his brother, Cloud didn't see the point in knocking and so walked straight in, obviously much to the annoyance of his younger brother. Roxas frowned disapprovingly up at him as he wandered into the room, using his clean hand to ruffle his blond spikes affectionately as he passed on his way to his bed. Flopping down with an "Oof," Cloud stared up at the ceiling while Roxas continued to stare at him. "Are you seriously going to spend your entire summer in this room?" he asked.

"You've already asked me that," Roxas replied, turning back to his work. He had an ear-bud pushed into one ear and seemed to be working on a song from his MP3 player rather than thinking up one on his own. "And I told you; yes – unless the house burns down."

Cloud rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "Just because Mom isn't here to hold your hand doesn't mean you should stay cooped up. Your friends back home wouldn't like it if they knew your intentions."

Roxas sighed heavily and sadly, staring down at his keyboard. "Hayner was mad at me when we left."

"What got his panties in a twist?"

Roxas was silent for a few moments. Cloud didn't press for an answer – Roxas would reply when he was good and ready. That was just the type of person they both were; there was no need to rush anything. "He made it seem like I was leaving because I didn't want to spend summer with them."

Slowly, Cloud sat up, the bed creaking beneath him. "He's probably more upset about the fact he's not getting to spend his summer with his best friend, Roxas – but he would want you to at least try and enjoy yourself. Just because you're not spending time with them doesn't mean you should punish yourself. There are lots of interesting people in Radiant Garden, you just need to get out there and meet them."

Roxas was watching him intently while absentmindedly playing with the wire of his headphones, twisting it around his fingers until it dug in and left red welt in his skin. "You mean like _your_ friends?"

Cloud shrugged. "If you want to. I'm not going to say you can't be friends with them just because they were my friends first. I'm not some selfish five year old." He doubted Roxas would _want_ to hang out with them once he actually got to know them. Tifa and Yuffie intimidated most people they came across. Although, Aerith was as sweet as spring flowers, which made her the odd one out of the trio of girls that Cloud classed as friends in Radiant Garden. She had a motherly quality about her that it made Cloud wonder whether or not he should invite her over in an attempt to get Roxas out. While he knew Aerith would undoubtedly be able to get his little brother to leave the bedroom, he didn't want Roxas clinging to mother figures. He needed to learn to spread his wings on his own. It was one of the reasons their mother had sent them to Radiant Garden in the first place. "I'm sure Sora's friends are nice too – or maybe even Naminé's." He fixed his brother with a hard look that he hoped wasn't too stern, but not sappy either. "Its not healthy for you to stay in here." He leaned forward on his elbows, reaching out again to muss up Roxas' hair. "Just think about it, okay?"

Roxas stared up at him with his big blue eyes; hair sticking out at all angles in even more of a mess than it was before. There was no expression on his face short of the slight crease above the bridge of his nose. After long moments of silence stretched out between them, he blinked and nodded once. "I'll think about it, Cloud."

Smiling, Cloud resisted the urge to ruffle Roxas' hair again. "That's a good boy." Rising from the bed, he instead patted Roxas on the shoulder. "Its getting late and I know that Tifa will be scaling the wall the moment the sun rises tomorrow, so I'm going to go to bed." He paused at the door and looked down at Roxas. "Which means pack up and shut up," he said before ducking out of the room to head for the bathroom.

A quick shower to remove the dirt and grime from spending most of the day travelling, and Cloud was making his way back across the landing wearing a loose t-shirt and a pair of sleep-shorts while he towel dried his hair. There were footsteps coming up the stairs, and he paused to allow the other person to step onto the landing instead of pushing past them. Before him stood a brightly grinning Sora who looked like he'd figured out how to find the pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. "Worked out your plan of action?" Cloud asked as he stood there, toes curling in the plush landing carpet.

Sora nodded like he was using a pneumatic drill. "It's the greatest idea in the entire world!" he announced excitedly. "I'm going to take him to Cid's."

Cloud frowned. "To exchange him for spare parts?"

At that Sora chuckled and shook his head. "Cid's has loads of old antiques and stuff. Riku said there was an old piano stuffed in the back somewhere. I thought Roxas would want to take a look at it."

"Roxas can't repair pianos, he can only play them Sora," Cloud replied, spotting a flaw in Sora's plan.

Sora, however, seemed unperturbed by that fact and plunged on with explaining his idea. "I have a friend who might be able to fix it up. Roxas could go and supervise or something; learn more about the instrument. Plus, Cid's is like a treasure trove of junk. I'm certain Roxas would find something there he likes!"

Giving Sora a one armed shrug in agreement, Cloud resumed on his trek to his bedroom, Sora spinning around on his heel to follow him. There would be no way on Earth that Sora would go to sleep without telling Roxas of his plan. The teen practically burst into the room behind Cloud and launched straight into it his idea. Cloud allowed him to fall into the background noise while he readied himself for bed. In the time it had taken him to shower, Roxas had tidied up most of his mess from the floor by pushing it more towards his side of the room. If Sora didn't convince Roxas to leave the house tomorrow, Roxas would undoubtedly take over the floor space once again once Cloud had vacated the room.

His train of thought was broken by a shout of glee. Turning around to look at the two younger males, he saw Sora hugging Roxas' fiercely. "That's wonderful!" he announced. "We can leave whenever you want tomorrow! I promise you that you'll be having more fun than you'll know what to do with," he said before bouncing out of the bedroom, leaving the brothers in communal silence.

"Wow," Cloud remarked, staring at the door where Sora had just been.

"I thought about what you said," Roxas explained. "And it would be nice to have a different type of piano project for once."

A small smile worked its way across Cloud's lips as he settled himself down on his bed, arms folding beneath his head as he stared once more at the ceiling above. This summer was turning into the most interesting yet, and he wasn't even charging through the trees in search of imaginary adventure. Maybe his mother was right; being here would help Roxas broaden his horizons beyond the small cityscape of Twilight Town. He certainly couldn't wait to see how Roxas reacted to Cid. Something like that should only occur in theatres where people had to pay to watch the events unfold. Roxas had no idea what he had just agreed to.

----

A.N. A bit shorter than I would have liked, but the story is just getting started and I hope the shift in character POV isn't too erratic. Next chapter will most possibly focus on one of the more 'main' characters of the story, even though every POV I used is effectively a 'main character' x)

Hope you're enjoying things so far!


	4. Roxas

**A.N.** Chapter three. Onwards and upwards!

**Disclaimer.** I don't own the rights to Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, yaddayaddayadda...

**Story.** Roxas and Cloud are shipped off to Radiant Garden. As they attempt to survive the summer all manner of things will occur that will result in them changing their views on life forever; and the views and opinions of others.

**Warnings.** Boyxboy/yaoi/shounen ai. All the junk like that. Pairings include but not limited to AkuRoku, SoRiku, Cleon, Zemyx and whatever else I can concoct.

**Spanners in the Machine**

**Roxas**

Agreeing with Sora hadn't been at the top of Roxas' things to do on this waste of time that was his summer holiday list, but somehow he found himself giving in to his cousin's wishes. The idea did interest him, and it would be nice to learn something new about pianos. Cloud had also put some of his childish impulses into perspective by telling him that despite the protest he had made that Roxas wasn't spending summer with him, Hayner would surely want his friend to enjoy himself. It was highly unlikely that Hayner was going to shut himself away just because his best friend was miles away and unable to come out and play with him. Olette had made Roxas promise to write to her and tell her all about his time in the rural Radiant Garden. The letter he had started last night consisted mainly of "It's terrible here, I want to go home. I'm not going outside, no matter what anyone says; especially Sora." It all sounded rather pathetic when he went a re-read it after agreeing to Sora's little idea. He wasn't doing this for Sora though; he was doing it for his friends back home.

Sharing a room with his brother, Roxas soon remembered why they had been given separate rooms back home. Cloud didn't snore, but he certainly wasn't a silent sleeper – especially if he'd spent most of the day travelling. Despite all the times he'd visited Radiant Garden, Cloud had never managed to get over his dislike for being a passenger in a car. His travel sickness had worsened since he'd got himself that motorbike. He said that driving a vehicle and being a passenger felt completely different. It left his body drained, and a drained Cloud was a restless sleeper. He rolled over in his sleep, mumbled things to himself and worse of all the little problems with Cloud's sleeping behaviour was that he ground his teeth. He'd done it ever since he was little. His teeth were growing in crooked, and his jaw seemed to feel the need to grind the teeth together in an attempt to right the wrong. Dental treatments, surgery, braces, Cloud had had everything done to try and correct the problem, but after growing up with it as long as he had it had become second nature to him. It was worse whenever he was stressed. There had been some important exam that Cloud was taking and he was so nervous about it that his teeth grinding had kept Roxas up all night to the point where the boy was falling asleep in class. In order to get a decent night's sleep, Roxas would slip out of their room and sleep downstairs on the sofa. Their parents quickly resolved the need to separate their boys, and Cloud was moved into a converted garage space.

Unfortunately, there simply wasn't enough room at their uncle's farm for them to have a room of their own. Roxas was given the option of sharing with Sora, but he thought it would be better for him if he shared with his brother. Cloud was his only reminder of home and he didn't want to completely loose his security blanket. After about the fifth time Cloud had rolled over, murmured something along the lines of "No, it's naturally like that," and made a noise like a feral chainsaw, Roxas had had enough. Throwing back the blanket, Roxas swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up. Eyes adjusted to the gloom, he looked around the spare room that he would be sharing with his older brother for the duration of the holiday. Hopefully Cloud's stress levels would fall to the point where he would only occasionally murmur and shuffle rather than sound like a creaking floorboard every time he shifted even slightly in his sleep.

Cloud surely wasn't an easy person to share a bed with. He didn't remain in one position for very long, and had a habit of spreading his arms. Roxas was surprised his brother didn't wake himself up with all the moving around he did. Looking over at the bed his brother currently occupied, he wondered just how Cloud could possibly be comfy lying like that. He was on his front, one arm dangling over the edge of the bed and his face buried in the crook of the elbow of his other arm. One pillow had been discarded on the floor and the blanket was threatening to fall over the edge of the bed along with the body it was wrapped around. At least for the moment he was sleeping soundly. Sooner or later one of his limbs would twitch and the whole process of Cloud rolling over, talking and grinding his teeth would begin again.

Brushing the soles of his feet over the soft carpet, Roxas dangled his legs over the edge of the bed for a few moments, watching his feet and listening to all the sounds around him. Cloud's breathing was the closest, and just outside the window came the rustle of leaves from the tree in the back garden. It wasn't like Twilight Town, where if he concentrated hard enough he could just pick up the rumbling sound of a car even at this late an hour. Apart from the sounds of the scenery and living creatures there was nothing mechanical, motorized or technological to be heard. It was an eerie quiet, so much different than the quiet back home. Part of Roxas wondered if he would ever get used to it while another part just outright disliked it. It wasn't home, and he wasn't to ever start thinking that it was; even if it was just for the summer.

Trying his best to make as little noise as possible, Roxas pushed up onto his feet. Glancing over at Cloud's sleeping form once more, Roxas moved with caution towards the door. Roxas had taken the bed next to the window, leaving Cloud with the single bed pushed up near the door. Moving quieter than a mouse, Roxas used two fingers to turn the handle as quietly as possible, doing the same on other side as he pushed it closed. Pressing his ear to the wood, he listened in to hear if Cloud had stirred in the time it took him to get outside. There was nothing but the sound of breathing. Hopefully that was a good sign.

Moving from the door, Roxas crossed the landing. He didn't know if any floorboards squeaked, or if there was anything he could knock over or stub his toe on lurking in the dark, so he took his time getting to the stairs. Once again, the threat of things creaking was upon him, but taking each step like it was a live mine, Roxas finally made it downstairs with barely a sound. Looking around the gloomy room from where he stood at the bottom of the stairs, Roxas noted just how different the house looked when all the lights were off.

The front room was a lounge area, with the stairs leading upstairs to the bedrooms and second bathroom. The kitchen was nestled between the front room and the den. The TV room/main room was at the end of the kitchen, right from the archway entrance. It was so much bigger than the little place back in Twilight Town. There were only three bedrooms because his parents had converted some of the space in the garage into a downstairs bedroom. But his uncle's home was so much bigger. It was obviously a family home. Pictures featuring the two children and various other family members were hidden in the darkness. In some of them Roxas knew his own face would be staring back at him.

Working his way through the sitting room, Roxas headed for the den, settling himself down on the stool beside Naminé's easel. The huge wall window allowed light to stream into the whole room, and even at night it was the brightest room on the ground floor. All the colours around him were muted and grey. It had a calming effect on him, and Roxas pulled his feet up on the stool and wrapped his arms around his knees, eyes still looking out through the window at the landscape beyond the glass. No wonder Sora has so much energy; growing up in a place with such an expanse of outdoor space would certainly give any growing child the lung capacity of a deep sea diver. The air was natural and fresh. If he had grown up here and instead of in Twilight Town, Roxas supposed he wouldn't be so daunted by the sheer amount of _space_ there was. A person could go out into that wilderness that lived behind Sora's house and end up lost for hours; day; even years!

While musing on his thoughts, Roxas' ears picked up a new sound in the silence of the night. Looking over his shoulder he watched as the kitchen behind him was bathed in a glow of light – most possibly from the refrigerator. There was the clink of glass and then the sound of pouring liquid. More clinking sounds and the light disappeared accompanied with the sound of a door closing.

Eyes wide, Roxas stared into the room, heat beating like a drum while he waited to see if whoever was moving about in the kitchen would notice he wasn't in bed.

Stepping into the beam on the tiled floor was Naminé, a glass of lemonade in her hand. She wore a cream coloured dressing gown and her blonde hair was ruffled and tangled from sleep. Tilting her head ever so slightly to the left, the young girl regarded her cousin curiously. "Roxas?" she asked her voice barely above a whisper. "Why are you up?"

Spinning around on the stool to face her properly, Roxas curled his toes around the edge of the seat. "Couldn't sleep."

She "Hmm"-ed in thought, gaze moving away from Roxas briefly while her mind worked on a reply. Roxas noted just how different from her older brother she was. If it had been Sora that had discovered him he would have launched into a mass questioning in order to find out just what was keeping Roxas up, why he was downstairs, if there were monsters involved and how they should go about hunting said monsters down. What she settled on was "Okay."

"That's it?" he responded, shocked. "Okay? What about 'You should be in bed, Roxas' or 'What's keeping you up, Roxas'?"

Naminé shrugged. "Do you want me to ask you those questions?"

Running a hand through his hair, Roxas shook his head. "Not really."

"Then I'm not going to," she replied. "I'm going back to bed now."

As she turned to leave, Roxas leaned forward on the stool, reaching a hand out towards her. "Naminé...wait."

She stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Can we...I don't know...Talk maybe?"

Naminé frowned, obviously not liking the idea, but it was obvious by the way her blue eyes roamed over the wall opposite her that she was thinking about what to say to him. She was too nice to outright tell him no, but she didn't really want to be up this early in the morning and deal with whatever was going on inside Roxas head. After a few moments of quiet consideration, she turned back around and nodded. "Fine, but can we sit in the TV room? It's cold in the den at night."

Roxas hadn't noticed the temperature, but his skin was registering the chill as goose bumps prickled over his arms and legs. Dropping his feet from the stool, he stood up and followed his cousin through to the other room. Naminé settled herself on the big comfy sofa after setting her glass on the coffee table. Roxas took the spot next to her and watched her intently.

When he didn't say anything for a while, Naminé broke the silence. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

Tearing his eyes away from her, Roxas looked over at the black screen of the television set. Hands resting in his lap, he twiddled his thumbs while he tried to think of just what he wanted to talk about. "Did...Did Sora tell you about his plan?" he asked, finally looking at her again.

"He told me that Riku mentioned an old piano at Cid's when he told him that you liked pianos. He didn't really say much to me though; or if he did I really didn't understand him all that well. Sometimes it's not very easy to tell what Sora is thinking, even when he's telling you exactly what it is he's thinking about."

Roxas frowned and leaned back against the cushions. "But he's always so _obvious_ whenever people interact with him. He doesn't hide anything."

She smiled. "That's what makes him so confusing at times," she replied. "Just because you think you know what it is Sora is thinking doesn't always mean you're reading him correctly. He doesn't hide his feelings so much as flood you with every emotion he's feeling, however minutely he's feeling it."

Blowing the air out of his cheeks, Roxas leaned his head back against the cushions and stared up at the ceiling hidden somewhere in the dark. "I guess I'm just not used to dealing with people like Sora."

"There aren't many people in the world like Sora."

He chuckled at that. "I supposed you're right, Naminé. There really is no one quite like Sora."

"Not in Radiant Garden anyway." She shifted in her seat and leaned forwards to lift her glass and took a few sips. Once she set it back down on the coaster, she looked back at Roxas, head once more tilted to one side while she regarded him with her big blue eyes. "Is there anything else you want to talk about, or can I go to bed now?"

Blushing, Roxas rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I don't suppose my aunt and uncle would mind if I slept in here do you? Cloud's grinding his teeth and the noise is keeping me awake."

Naminé sighed through her nose, shaking her head solemnly at him. "You were offered to share with Sora."

"Out of the two of them I chose the one that would keep me awake unintentionally. It'll only be for tonight; Cloud should settle down by tomorrow."

She appeared to be thinking about it for a few moments, her gaze wandering over the wall opposite. Hopefully no one would complain that Roxas was on the sofa come morning, he just didn't see himself able to sleep if Cloud was going to be wearing his teeth down to the gums. The things he mumbled that Roxas could make out were rather odd too. He didn't want to lie awake staring at the ceiling and trying to analyse just what the heck his older brother was dreaming about. After the silence had stretched on for well over a minute, Naminé finally nodded and stood up.

"All right, but you'll have to explain to them in the morning," and with that she said goodnight to her cousin and left the TV room to head back to bed.

Roxas sat in the gloom listening to the sounds of Naminé moving about on the floor above until everything went silent again. He couldn't risk going back upstairs to fetch his blanket, he might wake someone and then have to explain why he was sneaking out of his room. Hopefully the sunlight that would stream in through the window when the sun rose would wake him before anyone awoke and he could sneak back into his bed without anyone but Naminé knowing he'd slept the rest of the night downstairs. A glance to the digital clock under the television announced he would have at least an hour or two before the sun came up. Settling down on the sofa, Roxas curled up and hoped that those few hours he'd managed to sleep before Cloud woke him up by calling something unintelligible out in his sleep plus the short time on the sofa would provide him with enough rest to put up with Sora tomorrow. Closing his eyes and tucking one hand under the pillow, Roxas let himself fall asleep.

Only to be rudely awoken by someone leaping onto the sofa with him causing Roxas to awake with a yelp. Sitting up suddenly, Roxas rubbed at his sleep filled eyes and glared at the one whom had rudely awoken him.

"Morning sunshine!" Sora announced with a grin. He had a plate of toast on his lap and crumbs around his mouth. "You weren't in your room when I went to wake you up, and Nam said you were in here." He grabbed the TV remote and began flicking through the channels. "If you didn't want to share with Cloud you could have stayed in my room with me. I have a blow-up bed that Riku sleeps on whenever he stays over."

Swinging his legs over the edge of the sofa, Roxas sat up properly and ran his fingers through the tangles of his hair. "I didn't think Cloud would be so noisy," he admitted, still sounding extremely sleepy. The sun hadn't done its job properly and now he'd been caught sleeping on the sofa.

Sora grinned wickedly, and leaned over. "Does he have wet dreams?" he asked. "Does he moan in his sleep?"

"Oh God no!" Roxas exclaimed, leaning away from his cousin. "He just grinds his teeth!"

Sora actually looked disappointed by this, and grumbled as he took a huge bite out of his jam coated toast. "I was hoping you had a better reason than that for you sleeping down here. You're _boring_,"

"Why do you even want to know if Cloud has wet dreams?" Roxas asked with a frown. "He's your cousin."

"Just thought it would be funny if he did," Sora replied after swallowing the masticated food in his mouth. "He's always so calm and collected that he doesn't seem the type to have sexual fantasies about anyone."

"He's my brother – I don't ever want to know about his 'sexual fantasies'."

Sora shrugged and tore off more of his breakfast. "Suit yourself," and left the conversation at that. "You should get ready; we're going out in about half an hour."

Looking over at the clock, Roxas noted just how long he'd slept. It was nearing eleven o'clock. His body was aching and he didn't think half an hour was enough time for him to feel adequately refreshed to be going out anywhere. Maybe he could just say he didn't actually get much sleep and instead of going out he could instead just hide in the bedroom and pretend to be catching up on the sleep he supposedly missed. Looking over at Sora while he thought about his excuses, he abandoned the idea. His cousin was grinning from ear to ear as he devoured the remains of his toast. There would be no way on Earth Sora would let him back out now. Groaning in mental defeat, Roxas rose from the couch and made his way to the bedroom to collect his clothes before heading for the bathroom to freshen himself up in order to deal with the day ahead.

As he opened the door to the bathroom he heard some form of muffled cry, the door swinging open to reveal Cloud brushing his teeth. "Gah! Sorry Cloud!" Just as he was about to retreat and close the door, Cloud waved a hand at him, giving him recognition and allowing him into the room.

"Ah ought ooh oz aminé," Cloud muttered around his toothbrush, the white foam around his mouth making him look rabid.

"What?" Roxas asked as he closed the door behind himself and set his things down on the counter beside the sink that his brother was currently stooped over.

"I thought you were Naminé," Cloud said after spitting out the stuff in his mouth.

"I think she has her own bathroom – so she doesn't have to share with Sora."

"Makes sense," replied Cloud before he swilled his mouth out with mouthwash. "Have you seen the hair products in here?"

Roxas paused to look around the bathroom. This one looked like it was the most used by the entire household. His aunt and uncle had an ensuite bathroom, and as far as Roxas could remember Naminé's 'personal' bathroom was opposite her room at the end of the hall. Because everyone else had a room of their own, Sora had obviously claimed this one as his, even though it was the only bathroom with a shower in the house. Hair gels, creams, mousses and all other manner of things littered the countertop. There was a laundry basket overflowing with clothes that only Sora would wear; some were even attempting to escape the confines of the wicker basket, littering over the floor. Cloud's top was folded neatly on the only available space that didn't seem taken over by Sora related objects.

"He's got more than you," Roxas observed.

Cloud chuckled at that, wiping his mouth. "Sorry for keeping you up last night," he said, reaching over and patting his little brother on the shoulder. "I didn't think I'd be that bad." He looked remorseful over what he had done, even though he probably didn't know just what it was he did last night down to the last detail. He knew he ground his teeth and that it was enough to keep his brother awake. It had been enough to separate them back home. "You _can_ stay with Sora you know."

"So everyone keeps telling me."

"I shouldn't be as noisy tonight, and if it gets any worse I'll just crash at Tifa's instead."

Eyes wide, Roxas stared up at his brother as he was pulling on his pale blue t-shirt. "No, don't do that just for me." What he meant to say was that he didn't want Cloud to leave him in this strange place on his own, but he didn't want to admit such a childish thing. "As long as you're not doing anything stressful all summer I should be able to cope with you making only a little noise."

"I don't know, Tifa can be a whole new level of stress," he said with a grin, patting his shoulder once more before leaving the room and giving Roxas privacy. Standing alone in the little tiled room, Roxas could hear voices on the landing outside, mainly Sora and occasionally the gentler voice of Cloud informing the hyperactive teen that Roxas would be ready in his own time.

As Roxas stuck his head under the faucet, letting the cool water run through his hair and over his face there was an urgent banging on the door. "C'mon, Roxas, we've gotta go soon otherwise Dad won't give us a lift into town and we'll have to get Naminé to take us," whined Sora, muffled slightly by the wood. "I don't want to sit in Naminé's car."

Turning off the tap, Roxas rinsed as much of the water out of his hair that he could before throwing his head back as he stood up straight, coating the wall behind him with splashes of water. "I thought you could drive," he yelled back and he rubbed a towel over his head.

"Dad took my car away after I was caught pulling doughnuts in the empty field behind the hay barn," Sora replied through the door. "I'll get it back next week though."

Roxas rolled his eyes at his reflection in the mirror, agreeing with himself that despite their similar appearances, Sora was an idiot. "I'll be out in a minute."

"Hurry up!" and with that he bounded off down the hall, or so Roxas hoped as he listened to the heavy footfalls plod away from the door and out of earshot until a rapid succession of bangs announced that Sora had descended the stairs.

Moving as quickly as he could, Roxas fixed his hair into the usual spiked mess, washed and changed all in the nick of time. His uncle was piling things into the boot of the car. Cloud was sat on the porch swing seat with Naminé settled next to him. Sora tore out of the house faster than a speeding bullet, yelling "Shotgun!" as he skidded across the gravel path and around the front of the car. Roxas looked over at the two blondes watching him with different expressions of amusement.

"Play nice with the other children, Roxas," Cloud said, waving his hand at his little brother.

Waving back dismissively, Roxas went to the car and climbed into the backseat with a dark expression settling over his features. Just because he had agreed to this didn't mean he was actively looking forward to spending the day in the main hub of Radiant Garden, surrounded by the crazy locals and their equally crazy daily routines. He just wanted to find that piano, inspect it and then get back to the bedroom where he could work on composing a new song. Something deep and angry that would reflect how absolutely annoyed he was by being so far away from his friends. As his uncle sat in the driver's seat and started up the engine, Roxas stared out through the window and thought about what Hayner, Pence and Olette were doing today. Maybe they were exploring the subway system under Twilight Town, or Hayner was expertly beating the snot out of Seifer with Pence and Olette cheering him on from the sidelines.

Lost in his thoughts the scenery whizzed past in a way that Roxas barely took note of it. Sora chatted away with his father in the front of the car and it wasn't long until they were pulling into a more urbanized area. The whole rural look still thrived between the spaces in the buildings and no one had thought to put tarmac over the dusty gravel road that acted as the main road of Radiant Garden. The car pulled up outside a grocery store with some of its stock outside around the door. Radiant Garden didn't have much of a crime rate and so shop owners never worried about having their goods stolen by thieving teenagers. Everyone in town knew near enough everyone else anyway. If one person did anything bad the entire town knew about it. Roxas hoped that he and his brother had stopped being a source of current gossip the moment they actually arrived in Radiant Garden.

Unfortunately, that didn't seem the case. Walking around the rear of the car, he looked around and noticed the stares that came his way from the few locals that were going about their daily business. Sora, however, didn't seem to notice – or care – and he bounded up to his cousin still wearing that bright sunny grin of his. "Cid's is this way," he announced before heading away from the single long main street and down a smaller side street that seemed to end in nothing but an expanse of fields. Hopping over the fence at the end of the road, Sora glanced back to make certain Roxas was following before heading for a rickety looking building surrounded by a high wooden fence.

As Roxas approached he noted that the stone building looked something similar to what the last ever petrol station would look like if the world was ever forced into an apocalyptic future. The once white washed walls were coated in years of dirt and dust. The rear area was a junkyard, mostly hidden behind an old wooden fence, the only entrance being two huge gates that were opened wide to allow anyone entrance to the scrap heap. The actual store part of the gas station had been extended and renovated about a million years ago. Despite the initial appearance, the place actually looked functional. Not just functional, Roxas noted as he tagged along behind his cousin, but actively used.

"Is this Cid's?" he asked since there seemed to be a distinct lack of signage anywhere on the lot.

"Yep!" Sora called out, pausing at the doorway while Roxas caught up with him.

Once Roxas was directly behind him, he entered the building in the way that people did when they felt completely at ease wherever they were. Roxas tagged nervously along behind him, eyes darting around the interior of the store. There were shelves on all the walls overflowing with all manner of things; paint cans bits of machinery, boxes of tools. The store had obviously once been a rest stop, but there were no longer grocery lining the shelves in the isles, but now there was scrap metal, various parts for the internal workings of vehicles. The place smelled like grease and oil, with the tang of petrol. Roxas wondered just what kind of state the piano must be in. The items obviously for sale looked relatively clean, some were even brand new, but just what Cid actually dealt in seemed more like crazy machinery than antiques.

Sora now stood at the front desk, chatting animatedly with the baseball capped worker. Moving in closer, Roxas noted that the employee was no average Radiant Garden townie but Sora's closest friend; Riku.

"When you said you had a job, Riku, I didn't think it'd be here."

Riku shrugged. His silver hair was pulled up and pushed through the back of the blue and white baseball cap. There was 'Cid's' emblazoned on the front. "It was either here or the grocery store," he admitted. "All the good jobs at the new place have been taken."

Sora whistled in sympathy, turning around to lean casually against the counter. "It's a pretty neat job working here though, Riku. You won't have to do as much work here."

"Hah! Cid keeps coming up with crazy ways to get me to do even more work. He's out back planning his next big scheme already."

"Did you tell Cid I was bringing Roxas over to see the piano?"

Riku motioned his head towards the other side of the store. The place seemed like a labyrinth that went on forever. Roxas tried to see just where the place ended, but it disappeared behind two double doors. "I can't guarantee what kind of state it's in, but the junk's been cleared away. Demyx is messing with it already."

The news seemed to delight Sora. Grabbing Roxas by the wrist, he waved to his friend before rushing off into the depths of the store, diving through the double doors into the back of the store. Boxes were pushed towards the walls and someone had attempted to bring a sense of life to the room by placing a mass of potted plants in one corner. There was a work bench and a collection of furniture. The metallic smells were now accompanied by the scents of wood. There was a set of French doors open to the great scrap yard beyond the storeroom. But none of that mattered to Roxas. His attention was stolen by the black piano that had seen much better days.

The insides had been gutted and were in a state of pure disarray. Several of the ebony and ivory keys were missing. One leg was broken, another was completely missing and the whole thing was propped up on books, boxes and whatever else would support its weight. It was too small to be a grand piano, but it was still an impressive sight. Roxas walked up to it, brushing his fingers over the scarred surface. With his attention on the piano Roxas didn't see the pair of legs sticking out from underneath until he nearly tripped over them. There was a shout of pain from the owner of the legs, and Roxas blushed as he stared down at the person extracting themselves from beneath.

He was a dirty blond male about nineteen in age. His hair was a crazy mix of mullet and Mohawk. He frowned disapprovingly at Roxas for a few moments while he rubbed his leg before he noted that Sora was with him. Blue-green eyes flitted between the cousins, growing slowly wider with each pass over. "When did Sora get a clone?" he asked.

Sora grinned. "Demyx, this is Roxas. He's the one I told you about last night."

"The hermit?" Pushing himself to his feet, he stood taller than Roxas yet didn't tower like most tall people did. "I've been meaning to get this old girl fixed ever since she was brought here, but I don't know enough about playing a piano to know how well she can play," he admitted. "But Sora said you can play, so you can help me fix her, get her tuned up and then she'll be back to singing her heart out in no time!"

"You sound very confident in your skills."

Demyx shrugged dismissively. "It gets Zexion off my back for not having any plans for over the summer. For some reason he doesn't think 'lazing about in the sun and playing music' counts as an appropriate use of summer vacation."

Sora looked around at the mention of the name. More people Roxas didn't know. He felt so out of place. Everyone seemed to know everyone else in Radiant Garden. The only people Roxas really knew were his own family, and it made him feel so very small.

"Where is Zexion?" Sora asked.

"He's outside. He says it's too stuffy in here for him," Demyx explained, wiping his hands on his jeans. "The smell gives him a headache. The air isn't much clearer outside, but it's better than him being in here I suppose." With a grin, he looked over at Roxas and patted his shoulder affectionately. "Come on, I'll introduce you to Zexion and then we can get started on bringing life back to this old girl!"

----

A.N. The ending feels a bit weird, but I knew if I didn't stop somewhere there'd be no end to this chapter.


	5. Sora II

**A.N.** Hope you guys are enjoying this! I know the update schedule is rather erratic, but I'm a busy person when I'm not being lazy! Time for another Sora chapter!

And a bit of Zemxy thrown in for fun.

**Disclaimer.** I don't own the rights to Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, yaddayaddayadda...

**Story.** Roxas and Cloud are shipped off to Radiant Garden. As they attempt to survive the summer all manner of things will occur that will result in them changing their views on life forever; and the views and opinions of others.

**Warnings.** Boyxboy/yaoi/shounen ai. All the junk like that. Pairings include but not limited to AkuRoku, SoRiku, Cleon, Zemyx and whatever else I can concoct.

**Spanners in the Machine**

**Sora**

The moment he had spotted Riku sitting behind the counter in the blue and white baseball cap Sora knew that he was definitely going to be tagging along with Roxas each and every time he left the house to come here and work on the piano. It didn't matter that he didn't have a clue about pianos – or even anything that went on at Cid's – it was important he got to spend as much time as possible with Riku. When his friend had announced that most of his summer vacation was going to be taken up by his summer job Sora had felt deflated. There were so many plans bubbling around in his head that Riku, Roxas and himself could do. To find out that Riku wouldn't be able to participate in many was disheartening. To find out that Roxas didn't want to participate was downright annoying.

So now he was just going to have to alter his plans to accommodate this new situation.

When he had called Demyx last night after talking Riku's ear off, Sora wished he was actually better friends with the older male. He was fun and friendly and everyone in town commented on how talented a musician he was. If it wasn't for the fact his sister knew Zexion, Sora doubted he would have ever properly met Radiant Garden's 'odd couple'. Demyx had no complaints with helping him out. He had sounded so enthusiastic about fixing the piano up that any feelings of unfamiliarity between them quickly melted away.

And in much the same way he had bonded with Sora over the phone, Demyx was instantly bonding with Roxas. The older teen led the two of them out through the open doors. The bright sunlight filtered down through the sparse cloud cover floating in the big blue sky, and Sora filled his lungs with air a little cleaner than the stuff he'd been breathing back in the storage room. Looking around at the scrap heap that stretched out behind Cid's store with the sunlight glinting off the sheets of metal Sora was momentarily overwhelmed. He'd never been in the scrap yard before. His father had come here many a time for parts for the various vehicles he owned and despite the times he had tagged along, Sora had never actually entered beyond the great wooden fence to admire the sheer amount of collected items Cid had acquired over the years.

Cid was Radiant Garden's best mechanic and resident handy-man. If anything needed fixing, replacing, or someone to find out what the strange whirring noise meant then Cid was the person everyone turned to. Sora had always firmly believed there was nothing that couldn't be fixed if it was ever taken to Cid's.

Glancing over at his cousin, Sora noted that Roxas seemed to be in just as much a state of awe as him. He wondered if Twilight Town had anything similar to this, but his trails of thought were interrupted when Demyx let out a cry of delight and rushed away from them towards a figure he'd recognised.

"Please don't treat her like she's an idiot, Demyx," admonished a voice, and Sora turned to spot Zexion sitting on a bench in the shade of the building. Demyx was crouched at his feet, happily petting the golden Labrador who sat obediently beside Zexion's legs. Despite his attempts to get the dog to obey his little commands of "Roll over" and "Shake," the dog merely regarded him with an intelligence that most domesticated animals seemed to be missing.

"She'll never like me," Demyx whined, ruffling the fur atop the dog's head. Sora noted that he was over exaggerating a little because while Zexion's dog wasn't responding with ecstatic affection, she certainly wasn't rejected his attention. "I wish I could feed her treats."

"She's not a pet," Zexion replied smoothly, and it was his turn to rub affectionately at the head of another. Instead of petting the dog, however, it was Demyx's crazy hairstyle that he ruffled affectionately.

Sora looked to his cousin who was standing awkwardly off to one side, watching the scene unfold before him. Sora could tell by the way he was frowning that he was trying to work something out in his head about the whole situation. Sora wondered if he noticed the way Zexion had moved his hand; so cautious, testing the air until it finally fell upon Demyx's head. The fact he didn't look directly at someone until they spoke. He was stood too far away to see Zexion's eyes though, and Sora mentally counted down the seconds until the expression of understanding finally overcame Roxas' features. Knowing his cousin not to be the type to instantly blurt out this new found realization, Sora moved in closer to stand beside Roxas. "Hey..." he greeted.

"He's blind, isn't he?" Roxas whispered.

"Have been for a few years now," Zexion responded, his acute hearing picking up Roxas' words. "I was born blind in my right eye. The operation to save my left, however, went wrong. I can make out hazy shapes if I concentrate, but I'm classed as legally blind, hence my companion; Esoterica."

Every time Sora met Zexion he felt a pang of sympathy for the older male. If it were him in his place, Sora wouldn't know what to do or how to cope with the fact he was unable to see. Losing the sense of sight would mean he'd be unable to go out for adventures, enjoy a beautiful sunset or just see the smiling faces of his friends. Then again, Zexion had always been blind which meant he never even knew of those things to be able to appreciate them. Mixed with his feelings of sympathy there was also guilt. Sora _did_ know of these things. He had all of his five senses and sometimes he took them for granted.

"So, Roxas, Demyx tells me that you're going to help him fix up that old piano," Zexion said, tilting his chin towards where he believed Roxas to be standing. Sora noted just how accurate Zexion's hearing was because of how he was able to pinpoint Roxas' almost exact location. He must have ears like a bat.

Roxas nodded glumly. "It's better than staying cooped up in my room I suppose," he admitted, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Sora kept pestering me to go out and explore Radiant Garden, and, well, here I am." He held out his arms as if to announce this, despite Roxas knowing that the person he was addressing couldn't see his actions. Either he forgot this fact rather quickly, or he didn't want to treat the older male any differently than any other person.

"What brings you here, Zexion?" Sora asked. "This doesn't seem like a place you visit very often."

Zexion smiled a small and knowing smile, tilting his head to look blindly at his friend. "Demyx brought me along," he explained. "I had to find out for myself if this 'job' was true and that he wasn't just making up some excuse not to do any work over the summer." He reached over once more a tugged playfully at Demyx's hair causing the blond to let out a yelp of pain, hands reaching to his head to swat away Zexion's fingers. "Now, stop pestering me and go back to that piano. It's not going to fix itself while you're sitting out here with me."

Pouting his displeasure, Demyx bounced up onto his feet. He glanced at Sora and Roxas in turn before leaning down and planting a little kiss to Zexion's cheek, smiling brightly. As Zexion reached up to touch his own face, Demyx moved away and grabbed Roxas' elbow, tugging him playfully back inside the building, leaving Sora alone with Zexion and Esoterica.

At first Sora felt annoyed that he'd been left out, but as his mind processed that he wouldn't really be of much use to them, he wondered just what he was going to do now.

"You don't have to hang around just because it's polite." Zexion's words broke through Sora's thoughts, and he looked at him sat there on the bench with his hands folded neatly in his lap. "But, before you go, could you pass me my bag please? Demyx left it on the floor and I can't reach it."

Doing as he was asked, Sora lifted the black satchel from the floor. "Here," he said, holding it out when Zexion reached for it. Those feelings of sympathy and guilt swam within his stomach once more as he watched Zexion's fingers stroke over the bag until he could grasp the edges and pull it onto his lap once Sora had released his hold. With hands acting like eyes, he found the clasp and opened the bag, removing a book with no words or pictures upon it; just little raised dots. Sora stood watching, dumbfounded by the way Zexion did everything with such ease. Sora knew if he was ever blindfolded he'd never be able to do half the things Zexion did so well. He never tilted his head towards what he was doing either, remaining looking ahead with one eye hidden beneath bangs of silvery-blue hair. Zexion had always hidden his right eye. Sora wondered if it was the same as the other; glassy blue and never focused.

Finally, embarrassment overcame him and Sora tore his eyes away. "I'm going to go and talk to Riku, okay?"

"You don't need my permission, Sora."

Sora smiled, nodding at him. "I'll see you later."

As he turned to go, Zexion spoke, halting his steps. "Sora?"

"Yeah?" He looked over his shoulder to where Zexion still sat with the book without words open in his lap and the Labrador faithfully beside him.

"Roxas; he sounds a lot like you."

"He's my cousin," Sora replied with a shrug.

Zexion "Hmm"-ed in thought, nodding to show he understood. "Still, you two sound very much alike. Do you look similar?"

Turning back around to face him, Sora folded his arms behind his head, resting his weight on one leg. "When we were little people used to think we were twins. I think we look a little different now that we're older. It was always hard trying to explain that we were cousins and not twins. He never said so, but I think it irritated Roxas when he was a kid that he looked like me."

"I wonder if he feels the same way now..." Zexion thought aloud, head tilted in a way that his chin jutted out in thought. Eyes were closed. Whatever he was thinking he kept it securely locked away in his head and Sora stood there mutely while he watched him, wondering how the cogs and clockwork was assembled within Zexion's head and just how it all worked together in order to produce the kind of thoughts he had. A blind man must think in a way that was entirely different to an Average Joe. Sora didn't think of himself as average, but he was pretty darn certain that his thought process was outrageously different when compared to Zexion's.

Still standing there, Sora wondered if Zexion knew he was still present. His fingers were yet to brush over the page without words which meant he wasn't yet reading, but there was nothing being said between them.

Finally, Zexion broke that silence in a way that made Sora think that he could read his thoughts. "I know you're still here, Sora. Am I that fascinating?" There was a pause, silent consideration, a breath of seconds giving Sora no chance to respond. "Or do you feel sorry for me?"

Frowning, Sora shook his head. "I was just thinking, that's all," he explained. "What's it like?" He stepped in closer now, all thoughts of occupying himself by finding out just what Riku got up to working with Cid replaced with the churning interest of just what kind of world Zexion lived in. "Not seeing," he clarified after a heartbeat pause.

"I have never really been able to see, so I can't really explain how it feels to 'not see', Sora."

Puffing out his cheeks, Sora looked down at the ground, idly kicking at the rocks and gravel and dirt that littered the ground beneath his feet. There was no tarmac here, just pure uneven earth showing signs of the constant movement of creatures and machines passing from one place to another. "Oh," was all he could find to say.

Zexion still sat in that position that reminded him of a scholarly academic, debating the entire processes of the largest of things such as the universe and the smallest of things like atom. He didn't sound angry or hurt nor as if he found some kind of sick amusement in Sora's audible suffering. Zexion just acted like he was thinking. "We're very different; he and I. When you don't know what a person looks like you learn the other things that make them attractive to you. The way their voice sounds depending on how they're feeling; the little habits that they have that most people would find irritating are what you pick up on and associate the most with them. You build up a picture in your mind of what you believe them to look like based on what you know and what you perceive. In the end you just give up on thinking that you're two very different people and just want them in your world because even if you can't see the sunlight, having them in your life makes everything brighter."

When Zexion finished speaking, Sora stood there in amazement, mouth agape while he stared at the other male seated on the bench with his book of raised dots and the dog that acted as his eyes. Naminé often mentioned that she liked sitting with Zexion and talking with him, trying to paint the world in the way he described it. She never told Sora just how she had met Radiant Garden's blind man; she just came home one day with a picture painted in a way she had never painted before and proudly displayed it for the rest of the family to see. She was never the type of gush over a person, but Sora was pretty darn sure that his sister harboured some sort of crush on Zexion. Sora just assumed it must have been an artist thing. She saw the world in a different way and therefore was drawn to people who shared her view that the world wasn't box shaped and fitted nicely in people's perceptions. It was that, or her demure personality just seemed to naturally fit with Zexion's 'thinker'.

Just being with him for at least ten minutes had Sora wondering just how the world worked. He glanced over his shoulder back towards the open doors of the room where he could ever so faintly hear the voices of Roxas and Demyx. Beyond that room was Riku, in his baseball cap and bored expression as he manned the main shop. He didn't remind Sora of sunlight in the way that Zexion had obviously described Demyx. He wasn't heat and light and warmth, he was cool and soft and breezy. Like twilight. Riku was a cool orange summer sunset.

"Why Demyx?"

Sora's mouth obviously felt the need to betray him, and the question blurted itself out before he even registered that the thought had floated to the surface of Sora's sea of mental theorization. Those wide eyes were now wider in shock, and Sora assumed he must look like a deer caught in a set of headlights, or a slack-jawed idiot gaping at himself and his idiocy. Surely something such as the question of Zexion's choice in partner was a sensitive subject and not something to be broached by an almost-stranger. Everyone in town _knew_, but no one who fuelled local gossip had sat down with Zexion (or Demyx) to find out the reasoning why these two obviously incompatible people were in a relationship.

Zexion, however, seemed unfazed by the outburst and merely smiled a knowing smile. Sora was certain there was a different smile lingering underneath, one that was intended only for Zexion. He had grown up not knowing what a smile looked like, or how one was formed, but somewhere inside his head his body had found that ability to form a smile and even work out the different kinds. Perhaps he had sat there with a hand over his mouth, touching his lips and working out just what muscles did what, how things worked together in order for a person to smile. Then he would have undoubtedly gone out and tried these strange facial movements on other people to judge their reactions, learning by sound and touch – if the person let him touch them of course.

His eyes were open now, glassily staring out into the middle distance, the light entering the eye like it was any other eye, only the receptors and nerves and all those little electric currents that processed the information remained dormant and no image registered in Zexion's mind. "Because he talked too much."

The reply was not something Sora had been expecting. Sora had always believed people dated one another at first because they liked how the other person looked, and then once they found that their personalities synced up they then proceeded onto forming a relationship. Zexion lacked one vital part of that equation; he couldn't see what Demyx looked like to gauge whether or not he liked what he saw. "Huh?" was all he could find himself able to say in response, and instantly felt like the world's biggest dork for even letting the sound out of his mouth.

"Demyx thought that because I can't see he should inform me of every little detail that I was missing out on. He would sit beside me in school smelling like ice cubes, chlorine and guitar strings and tell me about everything he could see; from how the sky looked that day to what various people in the cafeteria were wearing. When he ran out of things to describe he talked about things he had seen from his memories. Eventually we came to spend time outside the cafeteria and just _sit_. We'd be at the park, in the woods, or just in town; anywhere filled with things he could describe."

An ache from standing in the same spot had begun in his legs, and Sora moved in closer, taking the seat next to Zexion wordlessly while the older male informed him of just what had occurred between Demyx and himself. He listened intently and Zexion obviously took note that he was no longer seated alone and adjusted himself to accommodate the new addition to his bench, turning his head to look directly at Sora with those eyes that never told the body they were attached to what they could see. Close up, Sora could just about make out the eye that Zexion hid beneath the lengths of slate-blue was different from the other. It was paler, with a milky blue pupil and no iris. Briefly Sora wondered if the reason Zexion hid it was because it looked rather creepy, but then he wondered if he was ashamed of it, because it was so different compared to the left eye. He had mentioned a failed operation earlier to Roxas. Sora had always assumed that Zexion had been born as blind as he was now.

Zexion chuckled, and Sora noticed that a silence had stretched out between them and the sound had broken the quiet. "You're looking at it, aren't you?" He reached up and slipped his fingers between the long strands that hung in front of his face and pushed them back, revealing the blind eye completely. "Demyx stares at it a lot too; it's how I knew that's what you were doing. Your breathing changed just a little, like you were surprised at how different it is."

"Could you see through the other one?" Sora resisted the urge to reach out and hold back Zexion's hair when he let it fall back down before his face, obscuring the eye from view once more. "You said you had it operated on."

"It was an operation to repair the nerve that passes the information from the eye to the brain, but it sadly didn't work," Zexion sighed sadly. "In fact it did the reverse of what my parents had hoped would happen. It was a risk they were willing to take, but no one ever wants to worse outcome to actually happen to them."

"So, you _could_ see before your operation?"

"I was too young to remember, and for me it simply feels like I have grown up with poor eyesight."

Sora was now so engrossed in his conversation with Zexion that he didn't notice someone walking up to them. Zexion had inclined his ear towards the sound of boots crunching the stones as they walked, but Sora was completely oblivious until a voice spoke out that didn't come from the person sitting directly next to him.

"This kid isn't bothering you, is he Zexion?"

Sora whipped his head around to see Cid standing with his hands on his hips, toothpick flicking up and down between his teeth.

"No, he's just being curious, Cid," Zexion replied. "You did remember that Sora and his cousin were stopping by today, didn't you?"

Cid snorted, wiping his nose on his arm. "'course I did," he responded in a surly manner. "Don't be daft."

Zexion made a humming noise in acknowledgement, a small smirk playing at the corners of his mouth that Sora only noticed since he was sat close to him. "They're here to work on the piano," he supplied, re-informing Cid of facts that man had most likely forgotten.

"I thought Demyx was doing that?" Cid scratched at the back of his head, brows creasing in thought.

"He needed help with tuning the piano."

Being left out of the conversation bothered Sora, and he felt the need to add in his own personal thoughts on the whole thing. "It was the only way I could convince Roxas to leave his room!" he exclaimed. "He and Cloud are staying with us for the summer, and it's not healthy for someone to stay cooped up."

Cid seemed to be thinking for a few moments, taking another swipe of his nose with his forearm. "Cloud you say?"

"He's my cousin."

"Kid owes me a motorcycle engine..." the man muttered to himself. "And a set of tires." He took a few more moments of consideration, and then fixed a pointed look firmly upon Sora. "Right, well, since Cloud is your cousin, you can work off his debt."

Once again Sora felt his mouth hanging open. "What!?"

"Last time he was here, Cloud ran out on me with an engine and a set of tires. Since he's yet to pay up and the task of actually finding him would take to damn long _you_, Sora, are going to stay here and work off the debt he owes me." Cid pointed his finger at Sora when he spoke his name. Beside him Zexion chuckled once more, finding an odd amusement about the entire situation.

"But you already have Riku working for you!" Sora announced, look of pure horror settling over his features. He couldn't believe that Cloud had _stolen_ from Cid's. Not only that, but this was the first time he'd even heard of this criminal activity. Theft was something that the gossip mill would eagerly scoop up. Cid had obviously acted like nothing had happened and kept things quiet, perhaps waiting to find his own form of retribution. While working at Cid's would mean spending more time with Riku, it would mean he'd be working during his summer. Oh, when he got home and saw Cloud he was seriously going to give his cousin a stern talking to.

It appeared that no amount of protesting from Sora was going to convince Cid to change his mind. "Your cousin is working on the piano, so I doubt you'll be going anywhere soon. You can help with my new summer project. Be out front in ten minutes. I'll get you a hat."

And that was that. There was no debate, no settling over what hours Sora would work for, or how long he needed to work to pay off Cloud's debt. Cid had hired him then and there without giving him time to even think about things. Sora stammered and stuttered words tumbled from his mouth as he tried to attest to the whole thing, but the man was already walking inside the building. Several shouts and words were exchanged between him and the two occupying his storage room.

Breathing out a heavy sigh of defeat, Sora leaned back against the bench and said his goodbyes to the warm summer sky.


	6. Cloud II

**A.N.** Hope everything is going well so far! I do love reviews you know, so if you're reading this at least let me know!

Regular updates? What are those when they're at home?

**Disclaimer.** I don't own the rights to Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, yaddayaddayadda...

**Story.** Roxas and Cloud are shipped off to Radiant Garden. As they attempt to survive the summer all manner of things will occur that will result in them changing their views on life forever; and the views and opinions of others.

**Warnings.** Boyxboy/yaoi/shounen ai. All the junk like that. Pairings include but not limited to AkuRoku, SoRiku, Cleon, Zemyx and whatever else I can concoct.

**Spanners in the Machine**

**Cloud**

If there was one thing that Cloud could admit to well and truly loving about his uncle's place it was the swing seat on the front porch. The old wooden bench suspended from creaking chains held a large amount of fond memories for him. There were memories of being a little boy sitting beside his mother and watching his father and uncle hosing the two almost identical cousins down while they splashed about in the inflatable paddling pool. Memories of resting his head on his mother's lap and feeling the soft kick of the little baby growing inside her – up until the point where Roxas' soft kick turned into a mighty karate kick against his ear and Cloud was certain he was going to be deaf in that ear for the rest of his life. Memories of watching the sunset with Tifa sat beside him, chatting away in her energetic manner and other sunsets spent with Aerith - the two of them settled in a comfortable silence while she made daisy chains with the flowers that Sora brought up to her to thread together. He'd grown up in Twilight Town, but there was something about this spot in Radiant Garden that Cloud kept coming back to time and time again.

Today he was seated beside Naminé. There was a companionable silence stretching out between them both as he watched his uncle packing up the car with various things he was going to need for his trip into town. Sora was bouncing around on the porch nearby for a few moments before shooting off inside the building most likely to inform Roxas that he needed to get a move on otherwise it was going to be Naminé that took them into town. Sora seemed to hold a dislike for Naminé's car.

"How about this one then...He doesn't want you to take him because he thinks your car is possessed by a demon and if he sits in it then it's going to suck him into the cushions and devour his soul?" Cloud interjected into the silence.

She looked up at him, small smile on her pale lips. "If he thought there was a demon in my car I'm pretty sure he would have hired a priest to come and exorcise it," she said, shooting down his theory as to why Sora was against riding in her car. "I think he has an aversion to anything remotely feminine and has a phobia of my pink steering wheel cover."

"You don't have a pink steering wheel cover."

"I could if I wanted." She smiled again, a little brighter this time. Naminé always reminded him of a sterile white room; like an operating room. But when she smiled the harshness associated with a bright and clean room was washed away. She wasn't white – she was clear. Clear and innocent like water from a mountain spring. "It's the pretence that he's afraid of."

It seemed that Sora had managed to speed Roxas up as the blond followed the speeding bullet that was Sora out of the house. Roxas looked up at him as walked out the door. Cloud smirked at him, amused at the dejected expression settled on his brother's face. Despite having agreed to the little outing it was obvious he wasn't exactly thrilled about spending the day with Sora. No doubt he was already cooking up one hundred and one reasons why he shouldn't go. Before giving him chance, Cloud thought it best to give him a parting farewell and a cheery wave.

"Play nice with the other children, Roxas."

That got him sufficiently riled up enough. He gave his usual flippant wave in response and sulked to the car.

"Do you think he'll be impressed if I chase the car down the drive calling out 'No, don't go, Roxas', Nam?" Cloud asked looking at the girl still seated at his side.

She chuckled at his question before nudging him playfully in the arm with her shoulder. "Stop being mean to your little brother," she replied. "If you do that he's not going to want to go out and play tomorrow."

Cloud supposed that she had quite the point. As he watched the car slip down the driveway with the crunch of gravel under the tires he wondered just how Roxas would fare when he discovered the garage-and-junk-heap that was Cid's little spot on the outskirts of the town centre. He tried to remember the last time he had visited the place. Tifa's junker of a pick-up had ground to halt a few miles outside the middle of nowhere. To add insult to her injury, two of the tires blew out as she tried to force the thing into motion. Knowing a thing or two about mechanics, Cloud had distracted Cid while Yuffie and her ninja stealth skills stole an engine and a set of replacement tires. They would have paid, but Tifa was under the constant impression that Cid wanted to scrap her beloved heap of junk and use it for spare parts. Any time her pick-up came into conversation with Cid his eyes would sparkle with an evil aura and he would rub his hands together expectantly. The truck had been in Tifa's family's possession for as long as she could remember. So many of its parts had been replaced that it was so far detached from its original that – were it not for the frame – it was an entirely new kind of vehicle. This was the reason why Cid wanted to get his hands on it which resulted in Cloud and Yuffie having to illegally commandeer the parts she needed to get it moving.

With his thoughts on the beat-up blue pick-up Cloud was certain he could hear its familiar engine in the cloud of dust and dirt that was forming near the entrance to his uncle's farm. There was the sound of grinding gears and the truck in question turned onto the dirt track. Rumbling up to the front of the house, a smile spread over Cloud's face as he watched the familiar figure in the driver's seat yell obscenities at the steering wheel and gear stick in order to put the truck into park. She ended up settling on leaving the engine running and kicked open her door. Hopping out, Tifa pushed the cowboy hat off her head where it fell to rest against her shoulder blades. She instantly fixed a glare on Cloud where he sat.

"Cloud," she said, voice sickly sweet and completely venomous. She gave a glance to Naminé, giving her a genuine and friendly smile for a few moments before returning to glaring daggers of pure feminine evil upon the male. "You lied to me."

"No I didn't," he responded, remaining seated and appearing completely at ease despite the Stare of Medusa being shot at him. "I said I'd be able to hang out today. I never said I was arriving today," he lied.

Tifa rolled her eyes and ascended the porch steps. Standing before Cloud her hands fell to her hips and she continued her glare. "I know you, Cloud, and I know how you can't go a day without calling Aerith. She told me you were already here when you told_ me_ that you wouldn't be _arriving_ until today."

Unable to lie to Aerith, Cloud had let slip that he'd arrived a day sooner than he'd told Tifa, explaining that he'd lied because he was going to keep an eye on his brother. Since Roxas had caved to Sora he assumed that his brotherly concern was unneeded until Roxas came storming back to the house exclaiming how much he hated Radiant Garden and that he just wanted to go home. He _could_ have told Tifa he was free today, but that would have meant he wouldn't have been able to witness her fuming at him for not telling her that he wasn't in Twilight Town. It was much more fun seeing her reactions in person than hearing it over the phone.

Lifting one hand from her hip, she pointed towards her idling truck. "In. Now."

Cloud looked over at his cousin. Naminé was watching everything with an expression of mild amusement on her face. She would always be the little sister he never officially had. If he went with Tifa it would mean she'd be at home on her own. With his big brother instincts kicking in, Cloud wondered if he should suggest she come with them. It'd be cramped and swelteringly hot in the cab of Tifa's truck and there was the high possibility that he'd end up travel sick but he'd brave it because Naminé was like his sister and those were the things big brothers did. However, this was Naminé. She had coped on her own multiple times. She lived here. Just because her cousins were visiting didn't mean that she had to do anything different from what she usually did. No, he wouldn't invite her along. She'd be fine on her own.

Leaving his thoughts about Naminé at that, Cloud pushed off the seat and did as he was ordered; slipping past Tifa was a small smile on his face. "Yes Ma'am," he said as he walked around to the passenger side of the cab.

With a hefty pull at the stiff handle, Cloud yanked the door open and was instantly accosted by something big and furry with a long wet tongue. Stumbling backwards and almost falling onto his back in the dirt and dry grass Cloud did his best not to topple under the weight of the giant of a dog. He could hear Tifa laughing at him from the other side of the truck while he struggled under the force of the Leonberger. Trying her best to stifle her laughter, Tifa came to his rescue, hooking her fingers under the dog's collar and tugging him down and away.

"You remember Red Thirteen, don't you Cloud?"

Cloud stared at the black nosed, red-rust coloured dog that came to roughly her waist in height. "He was never that big..."

She chuckled and encouraged Red Thirteen back inside the cab, where he instantly claimed the middle spot of the seat. "He had a growth spurt the other month," she said, patting Cloud in the small of his back and – treating him much the same as her dog – ushered him into the car next to the beast of a canine. Once the two were inside, she went around to the driver's side and climbed in. Waving goodbye to Naminé who had watched everything from her spot on the creaking seat, Tifa mumbled curses at the gear stick and forced the pick-up back into drive.

Combining the experience of Tifa's driving and being in the Truck of Doom with a dog that was probably as big as a horse, Cloud wondered if poor Roxas was due for another night of suffering. He could already feel the sheer amount of teeth grinding he was going to do tonight. His jaw was already aching from where he clamped his mouth shut to keep himself from screaming out in terror as Tifa sent the truck careening around in a corner in a screech of gears, tires, fan belts and a cloud of debris. He clutched at the seat until his knuckles turned white. Daring a look away from the front windscreen, Cloud watched as Red Thirteen appeared to be completely at ease with his mistress' driving, lounging in the space between the two humans like this was his favourite spot in the entire world.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Cloud dared to open his mouth. "You do remember that I get travel sick, don't you?" he asked her, noting just how cracked his voice sounded.

"You've yet to blow chunks in my truck; I doubt you'll do it anytime soon. Even that time I had to drive you back to your uncle's when you were completely smashed off your face you managed to hold your stomach down. Although that may have been because you had your head stuck out the window most of the way." She looked away from the road for a moment to look at him and beamed a smile of malicious glee. "Maybe you should do it again."

Cloud groaned and turned to look out at the space where the glass would have been. Tifa rarely ever had the windows of her truck rolled up and he was thankful for the breeze that whipped through the driver's cab, ruffling his hair and soothing his stomach by a minute amount. There was never any need for her to have the windows closed. No one but Tifa could drive her truck anyway. No one in their right mind would ever try to steal her car – not even Cid.

He did notice that what he had pointed out sunk in a little and Tifa had relaxed her driving somewhat to the stage where Cloud felt comfortable to release his grip on the tartan blanket covered red leather seat. Placing his elbow on the edge of the window, Cloud dropped his chin into his palm and watched as the scenery rolled past. "Where are we going?"

"There's something you need to see," she said with no hint of a forthcoming explanation. "Aerith will meet us in town."

It had been well over six months since Cloud had last visited Radiant Garden, yet it was the type of town that rarely ever actually changed. That was another reason why Cloud liked the place so much. No matter the space between visits everything remained familiar to him. Even when something new cropped up it nestled extremely well within what was already there that people just accepted it as if it had always been there. His friends rarely ever made a fuss over things that occurred during the spaces where he wasn't around. Like the town they lived in they accepted Cloud like he was a piece of the furniture. He could go away and come back and be treated like he had never gone away (with the exception of his close friends who always cheerfully welcomed him back for about ten minutes before resuming that familiarity). In Twilight Town things changed in a pace that made it noticeable and permanent. Nothing stayed quite the same, and the new was always judged before it was accepted. Going away for a short amount of time and returning always had more of an impact in Twilight Town. He'd made friends in his home town, but none were as close to him as the people in Radiant Garden. He didn't particularly enjoy living in the almost-dark of Twilight Town. He liked the light that existed in Radiant Garden. Whenever he was back home he felt as if he was always searching for something that only existed in a place in his memories. The moment he could see Radiant Garden on the horizon that heavy searching feeling in his chest loosened dramatically and he felt as if he could stop looking even when he was unsure just what it was he was meant to have been searching for in the first place.

Rumbling into in the main area of town, Cloud looked around to see if he could spot whatever Tifa wanted him to see that warranted the attention of the younger generation of Radiant Garden. Obviously it was important enough that Cloud also had to be in on whatever it was. Whatever the great and important thing was, however, Cloud just couldn't spot it.

Once again, Tifa yelled, swore, and threatened the gear stick as she jostled it around in its casing. It may have seemed strange to most people, but this was the only way that the pick-up would go into park. No amount of treating the truck with kindness and a light touch would ever work. No; one had to treat it with a firm hand and a foul mouth. People in Radiant Garden were now so used to hearing the sounds of Tifa's truck that no one even looked over anymore to see what the fuss was all about.

Kicking open her door, Tifa jumped out onto the dirt track, Red Thirteen faithfully following her. Taking that as his only cue he was to get out too, Cloud used his shoulder to force open the door. As he walked around the back, Tifa dropped the door to allow the dog to jump up onto the truck bed. With a bang, she made certain everything was secured and informed her four-legged friend that he was to watch the truck. Smiling to Cloud, she slipped up to his side and linked their arms together, tugging him towards the store. "C'mon, we've got important things to do today."

"Can't we just do them tomorrow?"

Tifa scoffed, shaking her head. "Don't be stupid, Cloud. You've given me a whole extra day. I'm not letting it go to waste," she replied to his sighed question. "And besides Aerith will be with us."

Aerith was Cloud's one and only weak spot that everyone knew about. When anything concerned Aerith he would always be there for her. To those on the outside looking in it seemed like Cloud had a schoolboy crush on the young woman, but in truth it was something much deeper; something that only the two of them knew.

As they approached the general goods store, the woman in question walked out with a basket of flowers held in the crook of her arm. As her eyes settled on the pair her smile brightened and she altered her course to lead her towards them. Cloud watched her every move, from how her hair settled around her face, the swish of her skirt around her legs and even the way the flowers in her wicker basket jostled around. She nodded her head in greeting to her life-long friend before turning her attention upon Cloud. "It's lovely to see you again, Cloud."

"Yeah," he said in response, ignoring Tifa's scoff at the minimalistic reply and the sappy way in which he said the single word.

"I brought him, just like you suggested. Better to get it over and done with today so that we can spend all summer dealing with him moping over the loss," Tifa said.

This confused Cloud who was completely out of the loop of the local gossip. Whatever was important enough to warrant him to need to know was also now something so significant that it would result in him 'moping'. This was a reference of him that Cloud was not pleased about. Not please about at all. "Loss of what?"

It was Aerith that cleared the air for him. "Remember the place where we always used to hang out whenever you came to visit? Well, the owner sadly passed away and his son sold the building."

Cloud's eyes widened at the news. "Someone bought the coffee shop?"

Tifa rolled her eyes and blew air out of her cheeks. "More like someone took over the coffee shop, gutted it and is now attempting to destroy all we ever held dear with corporation names and cups with logos – and certain specific traitorous characters are continuing to work there, even under the new management regime and not giving us the staff discount because we're their sister."

"Only you are their sister, Tifa," Aerith added. "And it was either continuing working there or go and work for Cid, and you know what would happen if he worked for Cid." She gave Tifa a stern look that had the other woman crumbling and fidgeting.

"But he has to wear a uniform now and a nametag! A _nametag_, Aerith!"

While the two females talked, Cloud tried to mentally sort through all the information that was being thrown up in the exchange while also processing the loss of his beloved hang out. The little coffee shop had been run for years by a little old man who must have been over a hundred years old. His wife had died years ago and their children had all moved away from Radiant Garden to find greener pastures. Because it was such a popular place a lot of the local youth who didn't work for their parents or leave town fought to get a job there. The pay was good and the work was easy. One particular person who was employed by the old man had been...

Tifa's brother.

Leon.

"He...Does Leon still work there?"

At his question both Tifa and Aerith looked up at him, their expressions complete opposites of one another. Tifa looked confused and a little irritated over the fact he had just interrupted her and Aerith looked concerned, worried and a little apprehensive. Despite Radiant Garden being a melting pot for gossip, there were still things that slipped under the radar. Cloud was relieved to know that the one particular piece of information he never wanted to get out were still sealed behind their lips.

"Of course the traitor still works there," Tifa snapped, turning on her heel and marching in the direction of the aforementioned building. Her arm still linked with Cloud's he was forced along with her. With a small smile on her face as it was obvious the situation wasn't about to get out of hand Aerith caught up to them to walk at Cloud's side. Swapping arms with her basket, she slipped her hand around Cloud's free arm to link herself to the other side. Cloud thought it now looked like he was being frog marched by two women.


	7. Namine

**A.N.** Enjoying it so far? Sorry for the inconsistency with the chapters, and the length of time between updates. I'm a terrible person – but that's life.

**Disclaimer.** I don't own the rights to Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, yaddayaddayadda...

**Story.** Roxas and Cloud are shipped off to Radiant Garden. As they attempt to survive the summer all manner of things will occur that will result in them changing their views on life forever; and the views and opinions of others.

**Warnings.** Boyxboy/yaoi/shounen ai. All the junk like that. Pairings include but not limited to AkuRoku, SoRiku, Cleon, Zemyx and whatever else I can concoct.

**Spanners in the Machine**

**Naminé**

Despite her cousin's unnecessary worries that she could clearly read on his face before he got into the truck, Naminé already had her day planned out. Her cousins and her darling older brother were off doing their own things. It meant that she could go off and do her own things too. While Tifa kidnapped Cloud and drove away, she remained on the swing seat, listening to the creak and clink of the old thing. Judging by the goings on of that morning it was already obvious that this summer was going to turn out to be something quite interesting. Grinning to herself, Naminé felt shivers tingle up her spine in anticipation at just how things would pan out. Sora had dragged Roxas to Cid's. Tifa was most likely telling Cloud about how their old hang-out had been corporate bought, but the old staff members were continuing to work there, despite now being part of the conglomerate machine. Radiant Garden was a small town; a local and family run town. To have a big city company in their midst would always be the elephant in the room; an elephant that only a select few would actually point out.

With all these thoughts in her head, Naminé hopped down from the bench and headed inside. She could hear her mother pottering about in the kitchen – most probably taking a break from caring for the various animals her parents kept on the farm. Deciding to leave her to her own devices, Naminé headed up to her room to collect her things before she left the house. She yelled her goodbyes to her mother, just catching the reply as she tossed her back-pack onto the passenger seat of her car.

There was something those male relations of hers neglected to ever learn about her. The few times Sora had ridden shotgun she had taken care and consideration into account when she'd driven him to his desired destinations. She drove an unflattering battleship grey coupe that had originally belonged to one of the kids in town who moved away to study abroad. The parents didn't want to keep the unneeded vehicle and after much pleading on Naminé's part, her parents gave in and allowed her to have her own car instead of just sharing Sora's. It had a lot of little ticks and tricks, but the engine worked and didn't make any unnecessary sounds. It had electric windows and the tape deck had been updated out of her pocket to a CD player. Everyone believed her to be the sweet, kind and gentle little Naminé Strife. She was Sora's little sister with the heart of gold and _Who Didn't Get Into Trouble Unlike her Ungrateful Brother_. Everyone didn't sit in her car though.

With a wicked little grin on her lips, Naminé flexed her fingers on the steering wheel. Art was her world. She could sit and paint or draw for hours without noticing the constant flow of time around her. Yet, when she was in her car there was a side to Naminé that only existed within this world. It was there, lingering under the palms of her hands whenever she drove Sora anywhere but she never allowed it to slip through. It was all unconscious – the reason why Sora disliked being her passenger. There was something not quite right about his sister as she sat there with her hands in the perfect positions on the steering wheel, but he could never put his finger on it. He had 'uhm'ed and 'ah'ed and 'err'ed the entire journey, unable to fully form what he wanted to place in words. Just seeing Sora's confused expression sent an electric thrill through her body. She could tell his primal instincts had set him up for 'flight' in the face of a beast, but it was the face of his caring sister who was just driving like every other person on the road (bar Tifa).

Turning the key in the ignition she started the engine and electricity tingled in her fingers. Pulling out of the shaded spot at the side of the house where Naminé always parked her car, she beeped another goodbye to her mother and headed for the open gate. Electric windows hummed as they went down to let the wind in to play and dance through her hair. One hand on the steering wheel the other set about selecting a CD from the clutter on the passenger seat. She rarely had an extra passenger, so didn't see the need to keep the seat next to her free. Slipping the selected disc into the slot everything was done before she had even left the grounds of her home. Turning the corner and heading in the opposite direction than Tifa's pick-up Naminé pressed her foot down on the accelerator pedal and drowned herself in euphoria. She was not, by all means, a dangerous driver. Radiant Garden was such a place that there were rarely ever two cars going in the same direction at the same time within nothing more than a few feet of each other. Now and again drivers would pass one another on the dirt roads that made up the network of roads in Radiant Garden. There would be a pleasant wave as they passed one another and maybe even a beep of a horn. Radiant Garden was an expanse rather than a cluttered town. Only the main hub of the town could truly be called a town and it was usually only the shopkeepers that lived in the area. Everyone else lived on farms with acres and fields stretching out between homes.

With this fact clear in her mind, Naminé immersed herself in the fun of driving. Going from Point A to Point B in the usual driving frame of mind put the driver into a state of automatic pilot and Naminé preferred to feel like she was actually going somewhere. The journey was sometimes more fun than the destination. Music up and singing along with the lyrics, Naminé bounced happily in her seat as she took a bump in the gravel road like a professional off-road driver. Sora may have known all the best places to pull stunts and show-off to his friends, but Naminé knew all the little routes and shortcuts to get almost anywhere in Radiant Garden. Some days she just went out in her car with no set destination in mind and just _drove_.

It didn't take her long to reach her intended destination, only getting held up the once by a herd of sheep being moved from one field to another. Having experienced the situation many times before, Naminé merely sat back in her seat and waited for the bleeting mass to pass until she was able to resume her journey. Turning onto a dirt track she headed for the converted barn and extended farmhouse. Turning off her radio before reaching the house, she pulled off at the side near a recently built garage. Compared to her own home, the house before her was new. It had been added to and renovated over the years until it was a brand new house entirely. It was aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and one could tell that the owners had purchased the place with every intention of getting away from the hustle and bustle of city living to enjoy the much quieter life in the country.

There was the sound of breaking china and a shout from somewhere inside the house as Naminé headed for the rear door. As she lifted her hand to knock on she could clearly hear "She's insane! If she does it one more time I'm going to set her on fire!" and instead of knocking on the door she merely stepped gracefully to the side just in time for a show to ensue. Within a matter of seconds the door flew open and a tall, gangly streak of human with fire engine red hair charged out with nothing but a towel wrapped around their waist. They sprinted a few feet down the path and then turned to face the door, one hand clutching the towel tight and the other pointing to the girl now standing in the doorway with a toddler resting on her hip.

"You keep that evil baby away from me," he warned. The threat, however, lost all of the intended ferocity because he was almost naked and still dripping wet. He'd left footprints from where he'd fled from the house. "Oh, hello Naminé," he added, bright green eyes glancing over to where the blonde leaned against the side of the house with a little smirk on her lips.

"Nice chicken legs, Axel," she responded. Leaning forwards in order for the pair in the doorway to see her, she waved to the little girl, wiggling her fingers playfully at the toddler. "Eventful morning, Kairi?"

Kairi chuckled, boosting the toddler up on her hip to keep her from slipping down too far. "Xion turned the taps on in the kitchen while Axel was in the shower," she explained, acting as if there wasn't a semi-naked man standing outside for all the world (or lack thereof in Radiant Garden). "And she kept doing it until he came out screaming from the shower, so she threw Mom's best china at him. Do you want to come in?"

Pushing away from the wall, Naminé waved to Axel and followed Kairi inside. There were more wet footprints on the terracotta tiles of the kitchen floor and the door to the downstairs shower was wide open. A trail of towels littered the shower room doorway and there were the broken shards of what had once been a tea cup on the floor near the breakfast bar. Kairi sat Xion down on the counter and began sweeping up the pieces. Naminé gave an apologetic glance back to where Axel was still stood dripping on the paving stones before heading deeper into the kitchen and standing before Xion.

Bringing her face closer to the little girl she put on her best 'face of disapproval'. "Were you being mean to your big brother?" she asked.

"No," Xion said matter-of-factly. "I was pwayin' wiv Askle."

"You're telling me porky pies, aren't you, Xion?" She placed her hands on her hips for added effect.

"I was pwain' wiv him, honestilly!" There was barely a pause to even think about her response, but under the look Naminé was giving her, Xion squirmed on the spot before finally giving in. "Yes, I sowwy! Won't do again!"

"I seriously don't believe her," retorted Axel as he strode into the kitchen like he wasn't standing there in little more than a blue towel to hide his nakedness. "This is the third time this week." He scratched the back of his head, causing the bright red strands to stick out in all directions. "And now I'm going to be late for work."

"Naminé can always give you a lift to Cid's," Kairi said as she tipped the unfortunate china teacup into the bin. "You don't mind, do you Nami?"

Kairi knew all about how Naminé drove. She had pointed out that it seemed like Naminé was different when she was driving with a passenger and that she shouldn't try to be something she's not just because there was someone else in the car with her. Being given the go-ahead by her friend, Naminé snapped back to normal and drove like she did whenever she was alone. At first it had freaked Kairi out, but she was used to it now. It was their little secret, and Kairi loved watching other people squirm when given the option of Naminé driving them anywhere.

And Axel visibly faltered. "Er...No offence, Naminé, but I think I'll pass."

"Your loss," Naminé replied with a nonchalant shrug. Out of the corner of her eye her gaze caught Axel with his chest on display, tracks and trails of water visible on his pale skin. His ribs were prominent but she knew that were he just a little thinner there would be no mistaking the fact that he looked half starved. "Are you going to put any clothes on?" she asked, turning to face him completely. "No offence, Axel, but I'd rather not have the image of you in your birthday suit ingrained in my mind. I'm not interested in painting nudist pictures."

"Askle's in the nuddy!" Xion added for that effect that only a child could provide to a situation that they have only an innocent interpretation of.

Axel seemed not to care, however, that there were two teenage girls and one toddler witness to his appearance. Two of the three females were his siblings and Naminé was Naminé. She was as much a sister to him as Kairi was. "Fine, but keep the Devil's spawn away," he added, motioning to his baby sister still sat on the counter who seemed more interested in her fingers.

"Just go and put some clothes on, otherwise you'll be even later for work than you are now," Kairi said authoritatively, pushing her brother out of the kitchen. She returned as Naminé heard Axel stomping up the stairs and smiled sweetly. "Sorry you had to witness that," she apologised.

Naminé waved it off and picked Xion up, following Kairi into the lounge. "It's to be expected. There is nothing Axel can do that Sora hasn't subjected me to already, unless he feels like streaking. Please make sure he doesn't streak." She placed Xion on the floor and the toddler made a beeline for the bright red plastic box filled with toys. She tugged it onto its side and the contents spilled out over the floor, much to the audible dismay of Kairi who was sat on the sofa. Naminé settled behind her and reached up, combing her fingers through the other girl's auburn hair.

Kairi and Naminé hadn't grown up together. Kairi and Axel's family had moved to Radiant Garden only a few years ago, but the two girls lived relatively close enough that their parents could meet on a regular basis and therefore introduce the girls to one another. Axel was the ever present annoying older brother, but Naminé already had one of those and could cope with him easily – this taught Kairi how to deal with Axel instead of bursting into tears if he ever so much as looked at her funny. Neither of them had a sister and had bonded in that sisterly way that only close female friends did. When Kairi's half sister Xion had been born Naminé had worried that Kairi wouldn't need her as a sister figure anymore. Instead Xion seemed to be developing qualities from both older girls. No one was quite certain just what kind of person Xion would grow up to be.

It was on days like this when her parents didn't set her specific tasks to do on the farm that Naminé would drive up to Kairi's house and the two would indulge in those girly activities that would scare away any self respecting teenage male. It certainly made Axel do a double take when he wandered into the room only to spin around on his heel and leave again causing Kairi to chuckle.

"You would think that with having hair as long as he does that he wouldn't be averse to having it braided once in a while," she mused while Naminé collected all her hair into separate strands. Unable to respond with hairpins in her mouth, Naminé merely hummed her agreement. "You going to work now, Axel?" she called out.

"Yeah!" yelled the response.

"Don't let us keep you then. Will you be home late?"

"Don't know," replied his voice from somewhere on the other side of the doorway. "Tell Mom to put my dinner in the oven if I'm not home before she cooks it." And with that the sounds of him leaving echoed through the house. It took a few moments before Xion realised that her big brother had left, turning to bring her big blue eyes upon Naminé and her sister.

"Askle gone?" she asked her eyes as wide as saucers as she looked up at the two girls.

"Gone workies," Kairi told her while Naminé studiously set one half of her hair into a braid. "He'll be home again though, don't worry."

It seemed that she was considering Kairi's reply for a few moments before nodding her affirmation and turned back to her collection of toys that rattled, whirred and generally made quite the ruckus. She was easily amused for at least a few hours at a time, which meant that her mother could leave Kairi to watch her while she went to the little office above the garage and focused on her work. Her husband and Kairi and Axel's step father still occasionally worked in the city which they had fled from, but most of the time both parents worked from home. Naminé often wondered what it would be like to live in the city, among the people with their busy lives. It was a world where people lived cramped together; doors along hallways leading to little homes that could fit into Kairi's kitchen with room to spare and no one really knew one another's names. It was a world where one could melt into the background and were only known by the people you wanted to know, instead of everyone within gossip distance. In reflection though, she saw how people from the city changed in Radiant Garden. Kairi had been a shy, quiet girl who wouldn't say boo to a goose before moving to Radiant Garden. On the days she wasn't with Naminé she'd be caught with Sora and Riku, being all rough and tumble and making fun of the fact Riku's family bred geese. She could see it in her cousin too, whenever Cloud came to visit. He liked it here, she could tell. Hopefully Roxas would see it that way too.

No, living in the city was an idea, not something she thought she would ever actually do.

She mused on these thoughts while working on the other half of Kairi's hair, braiding it to match the opposite side. Removing the last hair pin, she neatly slipped it into place and sat back, admiring her work. "There."

Kairi reached up, touching her hair and feeling for any imperfections. This was Naminé's handiwork though, and imperfections were rare. Standing up, she looked at her reflection in the mirror hanging over the fireplace. Turning this way and that, she tried to see it from all angles. "It's amazing, Nami, thanks." She looked down at the girl sitting on her sofa and bounced down beside her once more. "My turn," she announced gleefully.

Kairi's hairstyling talents were, if Naminé had to be honest, better than her own, but the auburn haired girl would never admit it. On days when Axel was in a state of distress over some minor detail that even the girls couldn't figure out, it was Kairi that came to his rescue and spiked that crazy coloured hair in such a way that it remained for several days at least. As long as Axel didn't get wet – and Axel was very good at not getting wet. There was also the fact that Kairi could style hair without even having to think about it.

"Did you know that Cid's got some crazy scheme cooked up for his employees this year?" she said while she gently tugged the brush through Naminé's blonde hair. "Axel said that he's going to try and bring more trade in by offering a car wash service. Of course Axel is already thinking up excuses of why he shouldn't be considered for car wash duty, but I highly doubt Cid will let him skive off from helping out with his new plan." Kairi's mouth worked separately from the rest of her body sometimes, especially whenever she was doing someone's hair. Naminé's mother said it was the "Hairdresser's Tongue."

"Sora's taken Roxas to Cid's today."

"Your cousins are here already then? Here, hold this for me."

"Roxas spent his first night here asleep on the sofa," Naminé replied, reaching up to hold a section of hair in place. "He knew he had trouble sharing a room with Cloud before, but he doesn't seem too pleased about sharing a room with Sora." She let her eyes drift to where Xion was still playing on the carpet. The age gap between Kairi and Xion was such that the two would never share a bedroom (not that they would need to) and there was no one for Naminé to share with. Naminé didn't really understand what put Roxas off sharing a room with Sora. "So why does Cid want to run a car wash?"

Kairi shrugged, moving Naminé's hand out of the way. "I never try to work out what Cid is thinking and I tend to only hear what Axel relays from his job. He complains like a baby about it all the time but Mom said that she wasn't going to support his ass all summer so he either got a job or took care of Xion. Obviously he chose the job over spending time with his baby sister. He acts like she annoys him but deep down he does care about her."

"Are you babysitting all summer?"

"Only when Mom is working. She should be done to make sure Xion is fed. We can head into town if you like. I want to see what all this fuss about the car wash is – and if Cid has caught your cousin after he and Tifa stole stock the last time he was here."

"I didn't know about that."

"I only knew because Axel still hears Cid ranting about it to this day. Apparently if he caught any of your family on his land he was going to make you work off the debt, and it seems he's got Sora **and** Roxas. What's Roxas like, anyway?"

Naminé thought about the best way to describe her cousin. Roxas was only older than her by about a year but she felt as if they had things in common, more so than between Sora and herself. He was quiet and thoughtful and always seemed to be thinking about something exceptionally deep. Whether or not he was actually thinking things like that didn't matter – he just appeared that way. "He's...Slow to adapt."

Kairi clicked her tongue and laughed at the reply. "I'll have to spend some time with him then; teach him how to adapt to Radiant Garden."

Kairi's mother came down from her office just before Kairi had finished styling Naminé's hair. She smiled sweetly at the two girls and scooped Xion up, taking her off to the kitchen to fix her dinner. She even made dinner for Kairi and Naminé and the four sat at the little kitchen table to eat. Naminé liked Kairi's mother – she was kind but her gentleness had an odd sort of harshness to it. She didn't mollycoddle or smother anyone but she looked out for those close to her. She was a strong woman, her armour re-enforced by her living in the city her entire life. It had always been her dream to move away from the stress and raise her family out in the country. Unable to do so with her first husband, after the divorce she met a man that not only promise to fulfil her dream but made it come true. She had hardly been a princess locked away in a tower, but Naminé liked to think that her second husband had been the prince charming she had always been looking for.

After lunch Xion was laid down for a nap, leaving Kairi with a few hours free. They jumped into Naminé's car (after clearing out the CDs on the passenger seat) and headed into the town, both curious about whether or not Cid had enacted revenge on Sora and Roxas for something Cloud had done. As they drove up towards the old building Sora was leaning against a sandwich board sign looking extremely bored. Naminé slowed and pulled up beside him, leaning out of the open window to grin at him while he tried to hide under the baseball cap that anyone working for Cid had to wear. Once he noticed it was his sister his expression changed and he bounced up to the side of her car, fingers curling around the edge of the window.

"Cloud's a thief!" he announced.

"So I've heard," Naminé replied, trying her best to act as if the revelation was new to her and failing. She wasn't aided by Kairi who was sat in the passenger seat giggling at Sora's outburst. "Shall I tell Dad you'll be working at Cid's instead of helping him?"

"I'm only working here until I can get my hands on Cloud," Sora said. "And then after I've killed him dead I'm going to drag him down here and make him pay Cid for the stuff he stole. Do you know where he is?"

"Tifa abducted him a few hours ago. I think you'll have to wait until she's done with him before you can personally do any physical harm to Cloud. I don't think she was too pleased about him lying about when he was arriving," she explained to him, watching his expression to gage his reaction.

Kairi didn't give her long to read his face as she leaned over her lap to talk to him. "So what's Cid got you doing?"

"Promotions and advertising," he declared, motioning to the sign he had been leaning against. Scrawled on the board in blue pen were the words 'Hand car wash' and various washes and prices. "Hey, Kairi, your brother is on hose pipe duty." He paused and glanced around before leaning as close as he could, lifting one hand to cup his mouth as if he was about to tell her a secret that only the two girls in the car were privy to know. "Uhm, Kairi, is he scared of hose pipes?"

Kairi smiled – small and sweet – over at Sora, her hands folding neatly in her lap. "Axel has...A slight aversion to water."

Sora pulled his lips into a frown, brows furrowing out of confusion. "Then how does he clean himself?"

"Like a cat," Kairi chuckled. "Mom stopped him from doing it in the living room years ago though by hitting him over the head with a rolled up newspaper."

Blue eyes widened in an expression somewhere between shock and horror, his mouth hanging open. Sora remained that way for several moments before clamping his mouth shut and turning to look back at the main building. "I have to tell Riku," he announced. Leaving his post unmanned, Sora charged up the gravel path and yanked the door open, flying into the front of the shop while Naminé and Kairi remained in the car watching and laughing over Sora's idiocy. With Sora gone, Naminé resumed her drive towards the building, pulling up beside the disused petrol pumps. Kairi followed her as she climbed out, hands sinking into the pockets of her jeans as she trudged towards the open gates that lead to the junkyard. The soles of her shoes crunched on the dirt ground, pebbles, odd nuts and bolts and broken pieces of ceramic roof tiles dotting over the earth.

She could feel the smile lighting up her face as she saw the seated figure in the shadow of the building. Sat on a bench with a book open on his lap, fingers brushing tenderly over the pages with his ever faithful Esoterica at his feet, Naminé was curious as to why Zexion was here of all places. His head inclined towards the sound of footsteps and somewhere on his face lingered a smile that just touched his lips.

"Hello Zexion," she said, arms folding behind her back.

"Hello Naminé and Kairi," he replied, folding his hands over the pages of his book. "Is there a problem with your car?"

"Nah, we just wanted to see whether or not Cid had cornered Sora because of what Cloud did," Kairi replied, wandering up to the older man's side and petting the top of the Labrador's head. "How did you know I was here too?"

"Your perfume," he replied simply, brows creasing a fraction as if he disliked the question because the answer was so simple and so blatantly obvious. "From what I have gathered Cid has put Sora to work on his car wash project. Your brother has passed by several times muttering about a hose pipe and where he would wish to, ahem, 'stick it'. So far, however, there have been no customers." He turned his head to where Naminé was standing. "Perhaps you would like to be the first, Naminé?"

Naminé pondered his suggestion, mentally working out when the last time was that she had cleaned her car. It must have been months, although the most recent wash had been a punishment Sora had been given by her father. He had washed all the family cars and the big red tractor that was only ever cleaned if it was rained on. Despite the obvious 'practice' the punishments had given Sora, Naminé actually doubted her brother would make a decent car wash…er. Include Axel in the whole charade and Cid's would be a bog by tomorrow morning. She kicked at the ground, judging how long it would take for the two boys to waterlog the place and just how far into the soil the building would sink. Radiant Garden was going to need a Lifeboat Rescue service by the end of the week. Looking back up to Zexion she shrugged. "I'm not sure. It might not be a very good idea, Zexion. Whenever Dad made Sora clean the cars Dad always had to go back and finish the job."

Kairi made a 'tutt'ing sound in her throat as she rose from her spot beside Esoterica, walking over to where Naminé stood and spun around, catching Naminé's arms in her hands as she came full circle and looked up at her face. The bright grin on her face spoke of a thousand wild and devious deeds. Axel had a similar grin – it was the grin that let slip that they were up to something nefarious. "I'm sure it'll be loads of fun, Nami!" she cheered. "There's never anything as stupid as this going on in this little town – we've got to see it through. If we're lucky, Axel will drown himself and Mom will let me have his bigger room."

Naminé scrunched up her nose in thought, pursing her lips. "I'm not sure – not to mention how exactly can Axel drown himself with a hosepipe?"

"This is Axel – he could drown himself in the rain," Zexion interjected, obvious listening in on the girls' conversation. "It would be nice for someone to describe this absolute farce to me in a way that isn't Demyx's usual enthusiasm of 'oh no's', 'oh my God's' and 'I'm bored now's'. He describes things in a way that wouldn't suit a play-by-play atrocity that would be Sora and Axel attempting to clean a car." He inclined his head towards Naminé and Kairi while a small smile played on his lips. "I'll even pay."

Instantly Naminé felt herself jump onto the defensive. She quickly shook her head and moved over to stand before him. "No, no, I could never ask that of you, Zexion. You don't have to pay me anything; I'll pay and tell you everything that's happening."

Kairi came up behind her and looped their arms together. "You do know that this is Zexion, right?" she said, even though the answer was obvious. "He may not be able to see you blushing, but he's an expert at reverse psychology."

"Why, Kairi, you make me sound like I'm insincere," he replied. "Do not worry, Naminé. Consider it a gift."

She pouted. She didn't want Zexion to reach into his own pocket. The more she thought about it, however, was that he had asked her to participate and tell him of the outcome of Sora and Axel washing a car. Some people would pay to see a scene like that. Zexion was paying to have someone describe it for him. After taking a few moments deliberating in her head and nibbling on her bottom lip, she finally caved with a nod. "Okay. I'll do it."

"Wonderful!" Kairi cheered, punching the air with her free arm. "I'll go and get Cid." Sliding her arm from Naminé's, she headed inside the building.

With her friend gone to be her typical chatty self, Naminé moved to take up the spot beside her other friend. There was just something about Zexion that drew her in. Their personalities naturally complimented rather than the obvious contrast between the blind man and Demyx. She had never told anyone, but when she had first met Zexion she had developed an odd sort of crush on him. It had been silly and atrociously teen-angst-like in every way, and when Demyx came into the picture she had even found herself hating him because he had what she wanted. After spending enough time with the older male though, her rational mind finally caught up with her hormones and she tucked the phase into a little locked chest in the back of her mind and labelled it 'Stupidity'. She placed it next to that time when she was ten and thought it would be fun to try out for the lead in choir only to discover she suffered from immense stage fright.

Her overall liking of Zexion never went away when she had rationalised what she had been feeling and worked out that it was pure idiocy to think of Zexion in any other way than a friend. He was easy to talk to, and had a mature way of dealing with things. Of course he expected people to think in the same patterns that he did, and had moments where he said socially inappropriate things to people who did not comply with his thought processes. There was a way of just dealing with Zexion; otherwise you could end up hurt. Naminé knew and understood those ways, and felt comfortable around him. From time to time he did still say things that touched a nerve within her, but she had learned how to retort rather than internalise everything. If she didn't know how to do that Naminé was sure she would have broken somewhere along the way in her friendship with Zexion. It certainly wasn't how Demyx did it, but she couldn't think like he did.

Demyx was like water. Zexion was like a mirage. Naminé felt like she was a crayon drawing compared to him, but they were both products of something that just wasn't quite real. He was a false image of what _could_ be there – she was an image of what had once been there, or only existed in her mind.

"You're thinking again," he said, breaking the stretching silence. Most people would state that she was being quiet and ask why. Zexion got to the root of things without wasting time on the niceties

She smiled, leaning in close enough to allow their arms to just brush with only a whisper of air between them. "I'm working out things in my head. Today has been…A lot to process." She gave that nudge again. It was their way of showing she was smiling. She didn't even remember when it had developed; it felt like she had always being making the motion. "We've been invaded by Stubborn and Brooding; Sora seems to think we're still kids; and, most importantly, Sora is washing my car."

"You are somewhat incorrect there, Naminé, it is, in fact, Sora _and_ Axel that are washing your car," Zexion responded, picking at the minor detail as if he was picking at an annoying thread poking out of his favourite jeans. "Take into account Axel's obscure aversion to water and his ability to make even damp paper spontaneously combust and Sora going near your car with a wet sponge is the least of your worries." The small, practically invisible smile drifted onto his lips again and sat there for a good few moments. "I met your cousin Roxas too. Demyx has claimed him. He reminds me a little of you. You both have that something that's just a touch to the left of whole." Smile slipped to release a gentle sigh. "I understand that feeling."

"Whenever anyone outside our family met all four of us it was Sora that was always the odd one out. They seem to assume that I'm Cloud and Roxas' little sister rather than Sora's. Then they see Sora and Roxas together and everything gets messed up even more. Can you tell the difference between them?"

"It is the light they have," Zexion replied to her question. "Not the visual kind, but internally…The feeling that they leave you with, if you will. Sora is bright and full, while your cousin is like the edges where the light meets darkness. Even I can make out how a beam of light frays when it reaches its limit and Roxas is like that part where the light ends and the dark begins. There's also Roxas'…similarity to you and I while Sora is a stark difference entirely."

Naminé took everything in he had said, her mind trying to contemplate everything Zexion had given her, but she found herself staring mouth agape at him.

He chuckled as if he could tell her mouth was hanging open like some kind of fish. "They sound alike, but Roxas' tone differs from Sora's. If they were to both say the same thing I would be able to pinpoint which was which."

While taking in all that Zexion had told her and trying to figure out all the ways in which Axel and Sora could destroy her car there was a shout of her name from the rear entrance of the building. Turning in her seat she moved to look at just who it was trying to gain her attention.


End file.
